The final: squeaker versus shriekerPeter Hanlon
January 25, 2008
ANA IVANOVIC reached her first grand slam final in seismic circumstances yesterday, losing the first eight games of the match before mastering an opponent who later accused her of gamesmanship, bemoaned her ill luck, and believed the umpire had erred on the contest's most crucial point.
None of which altered the fact that Ivanovic, who for 35 jaw-dropping minutes was struck dumb under Daniela Hantuchova's spell, found a way back to record a 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 win. Tomorrow, either she or Maria Sharapova, who had beat Jelena Jankovic earlier yesterday, will have their name engraved on the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup for the first time.
But Hantuchova's behaviour sullied the best win of the 20-year-old's career. She described the squeaking of Ivanovic's shoes on the court as she prepared to receive serve as "ridiculous".
"I was really surprised with that, I think it's unfair," Hantuchova said. "It's a distraction to the server. We played before and she never did it."
Ivanovic said: "It's the way these courts play, there was no intention of anything."
She explained she was simply moving her feet and made the same noise in all her matches. "Once I saw she was complaining, there was nothing I could do. Maybe she was just trying to pick on something to get upset, I don't know."
The Slovak said she raised the issue with the umpire "in the first or second service game, but she didn't do anything about it. I don't think that was very nice".
Hantuchova also took exception with what she saw as a double-bounce at 4-4 and game point in a nerve-jangling third set. A drop shot appeared to have won her the match's biggest point until Ivanovic ran it down; with the open court and a simple volley before her, a distracted Hantuchova dumped it into the net and immediately held up two fingers to the umpire.
"Yeah, I thought it was a double bounce, but maybe it was just my mistake. I should have played the point anyway."
Ivanovic knew by now she was reeling in her catch.
"I had two balls that I hardly got to, that gives you so much confidence," she said. "I knew she was probably a little bit mentally down with herself, didn't use her opportunities."
Those chances were plenty for the ninth-seeded Slovak, whose irresistible opening threw her more fancied opponent off course.
"I was a little bit nervous, my serve didn't work well, I didn't move as well as I should have," was Ivanovic's summary of the miserable blur. "Always on back foot and defending, couldn't find my rhythm."
Ivanovic won just nine points in the first set, the 112th of her fledgling grand slam career and the first she had conceded to love. She had rallied from a set down against Hantuchova before, in Luxembourg last year, but never from complete humiliation.
Moments later, she was down another break, and even from 40-0 trailing 0-2 she was pegged back to deuce when a challenged call of "out" on a drop shot at 40-30 went her way, yet the point had to be replayed regardless because Hantuchova had got her racquet to the ball.
At last she was emboldened, holding serve then breaking the Slovak in the next game, the first time in which she displayed the tennis that took her to the semis. Then came two firsts - she took the lead (at least for the set), and gave the day's maiden airing of the Ivanovic fist-pump.
The balance was shifting. At 3-3 and deuce on Ivanovic's serve, it was there for her to lose, but a backhand caught the tape and inched over. She held, then broke again as errors began to fly from Hantuchova's racquet.
Now the underdog's head hung low, and instead of hitting corners, she was happy just to hit the court. Her capacity to tough it out has been questioned before, fingered as a catalyst in her slump from the top five in 2002 to the wilderness of the also-ran territory.
The deciding set was epic, Hantuchova rallying with the advantage of serving her way to the lead and Ivanovic taking seven deuces to hold in the sixth game, a struggle underscored when her opponent held to love.
Hanging by a thread and with one challenge remaining, Ivanovic resisted questioning two calls that would have gone her way. Yet Hantuchova's nerve was failing; twice at 4-4 she gambled on the replay and lost, then saw the Serb blow her third on a baseline ball. Then came the "double-bounce" break, and Ivanovic served out the match.
So to Sharapova v Ivanovic - the shrieker versus the squeaker. Chuffed to have ascended to world No.2 on the back of this win, Ivanovic trained her sights on the Russian, whom she has met four times for a 2-2 ledger.
"I know what to expect. You want little bit easier match to feel fresher, but this kind of match gives you confidence."
This story was found at:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/01/24/1201157560265.html
AuthorTopic: Australian Open (Read 1484 times)
January 25, 2006, 05:07:45 AM