Errors All Round As Favourites Get Through
The Age
Thursday January 19, 2006
LINDSAY Davenport and Justine Henin-Hardenne spent much of their Australian Open second-round matches yesterday playing as if tournament organisers were handing out cash in exchange for unforced errors, but eventually eased their way through to the third round.
World No. 1 Davenport came up against a willing, powerful foe in Croatian Karolina Sprem. She was forced to dig deep to take a first set tie-breaker before finding her range in the second to win 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in 85 minutes.Sprem, ranked 66 in the world, unsettled Davenport with her crashing groundstrokes in the first set. The two traded early breaks but then held serve until the tie-breaker. The high number of points won on first serve and the welter of unforced errors from both players - 18 by Davenport and 14 by Sprem - combined to ensure that only one game in the first set went to deuce.But when Davenport got her eye in half-way through the second set and started landing her groundstrokes in the corners, she was too good for Sprem. The 2000 Open winner said afterwards she was surprised by Sprem's aggression, but that she felt the tough match was a good test for her. "The more aggressive I could be, I felt like the match was in my favour, but a couple of times I just missed a few balls, the balls were flying and it was a little bit quicker than I was ready for," Davenport said."I think that I was able to come through not playing perfect tennis but I still thought I did some things well. I thought she played really well and didn't give me tons of opportunities, she . . . would take advantage when I didn't hit a good shot. I think everything about the match was a positive for me."Davenport faces Russian Maria Kirilenko in the next round after the world No. 25 beat her countrywoman Galina Voskoboeva in straight sets.Henin-Hardenne had a slightly easier passage to the next round, an ankle injury to her opponent, Hana Sromova of the Czech Republic, in the second set helping her to a 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 win.But the rather bizarre first set was another matter, with only four of 12 games proper going with serve. Henin-Hardenne made an astonishing 27 unforced errors, while her opponent, ranked 92 and playing at her first grand slam, made only 12 but won just 41 per cent of points on her first serve. A further demonstration of Sromova's game plan, which seemed to consist of returning serve and hoping the Belgian 8th seed messed up, was that she hit six winners for the match, while Henin-Hardenne struck 32."I wasn't feeling that great on the court, not very comfortable," Henin-Hardenne admitted."I didn't know her at all and it took me almost a set to get used to her game. There was no rhythm in the match, I was doing the mistakes and the winners (and) that's not the kind of game I like."All the matches I played since I'm back (from injury), I played against players who were hitting the ball very hard with a lot of rhythm, playing a very aggressive game. That's what I like, you know. Today I never really found the good balance between the aggression and the patience. It took time."Henin-Hardenne will face Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano, who overcame Spaniard Conchita Martinez Granados 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, in the next round.Seventeenth seed Daniel Hantuchova rolled over the top of Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan 6-4, 6-1 to set up a mouth-watering clash with 13th seed Serena Williams, who dropped only four games against Camille Pin of France.Sixth seed Nadia Petrova of Russia also did it easy, disposing of German Martina Muller 6-4, 6-1.Eighteenth seed Elena Likhovtseva of Russia went out of the tournament at the hands of Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-4, 6-4.
© 2006 The Age
