Double faults foil Kournikova in Sydney
Posted: Wednesday January 13, 1999 03:21 PM
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Kournikova admitted her serve needs work if she is to make an impact at the Australian Open next week AP |
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- It's easy to find faults in Anna
Kournikova's tennis game.
The Russian youngster served up 16 doubles Wednesday en route to
a 6-1, 6-2 loss against Belgian Dominique Van Roost at the Adidas
International. The serving woes followed 23 double faults in her
opening match, a win over Italian Silvia Farina.
The problem is nothing new for Kournikova, the No.13-ranked
player. She served 56 double faults in her last three matches of
1998, all of which were losses.
The 17-year-old served four straight double faults to trail 4-1
in the first set, and Van Roost could not believe her luck.
"She's a great tennis player but definitely her serve was
bothering her a lot during the whole match, it's not easy when you
lose your serve all the time," Van Roost said. "She wasn't even
concentrating on trying to hold serve, she was just trying to put
the ball in the court and that takes a lot of energy."
Kournikova, ranked one place behind No. 12 Van Roost, admitted
her serve needs work if she is to make an impact at the Australian
Open in Melbourne next week.
"I'm working on it," Kournikova said. "Obviously it's not
working for me but I'm trying not to concentrate on it too much.
"Dominique is ranked higher than me, she's a very tough
opponent and right now she plays well."
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