Swiss Bliss

Yesterday's night matches featured Switzerland's pride: Martina Hingis and Roger Federer. The two started off their matches with displays of precision and class, but the two players across the net were determined to make both of them work for the win. Samantha Stosur of Australia had the home crowd behind her as she played Hingis, while Tommy Haas of Germany had momentum and fire going into his match against Federer.

Stosur quickly succumbed to pressure from Hingis in the first set. The second set proved to be more of a dogfight, with both players breaking each other's serve back and forth. Stosur, with the crowd cheering for her, forced the set into a tiebreaker by breaking Hingis's serve as the former world no. 1 was serving for the match at 6-5.

From Scotsman.com:

Stosur raced out to a 5-2 lead, but the experience of Hingis eventually told and she fought back to seal victory on her fourth match-point, setting up the mouthwatering clash with Clijsters.

"I played really well for the first one-and-a-half sets," added Hingis, who only made her return to competitive tennis earlier this month at the Australian hardcourt championships on the Gold Coast and is competing at Melbourne Park as a wild card.

"It took me a while until we finished that match. She's a great fighter. She started attacking more. Also, partly because I was getting tired or just loosened up a little, it was all nerves just toward the end, and after being down 5-2 in the tie-breaker I was just happy to finish it off."

Stosur said she noticed Hingis' weaknesses and tried to exploit them. "As the match went on, I kind of found what I needed to be doing a bit better," she added. "I think she started getting a little bit tired. I just started grinding it out and just fighting for every point and came within two points of getting the set."

Hingis will be facing Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals. At Clijsters's on-court interview after winning the fourth-round match against Franchesca Schiavone, the Belgian said that she had not been training on her days off. Clijsters has been nursing a back and hip injury but so far has gone through the draw comfortably.

Sports Illustrated contributor Justin Gimelstob writes in his latest blog entry:

Hingis has been up early practicing every morning at a private court at the same hotel where I'm staying, and has improved in every match. She has been fortunate to stay away from the big hitters so far, but she has displayed the same consistency and court management that enabled her to become the youngest holder of the No. 1 ranking in women's history.

One problem: Hingis has a date with Kim Clijsters on Wednesday, a player who is one of the biggest of those big hitters. If Clijsters is healthy -- and she looks like she is -- Hingis' biggest weakness will be exposed.

As for the featured men's match later that night featuring Federer and Haas, it seemed a foregone conclusion that the top seed would get through to the quarterfinal. The first two sets (complete with a bagel in the second) was business as usual for the Swiss, but Haas began showing his mettle. He worked hard for every point and dove for seemingly unmakeable volleys, overpowered and wrongfooted his opponent, and began showing a worthy contest for the match.

From Telegraph.co.uk:

Federer had not lost a set all tournament until last night, and the truth was that he perhaps could have continued into the last eight in much simpler fashion. After establishing a two-set lead, he appeared to have been in a position that was as impregnable as one of his home country's famed bank vaults.

But it was then that the match acquired its complications and its drama. The increasingly effective tennis from Haas, who was swinging with abandon and diving about the service box like a dark-haired Boris Becker, had Federer making uncharacteristic errors, fretting about the mistakes, and muttering into the night.

Federer matches in the early stages of a slam are generally close to exhibition tennis, with the crowd having a fair idea of the result before the first rally but able to enjoy the racket skills and extravagant strokes all the same. Yet suddenly here was a Federer fourth-round match filled with plot. "It was a different atmosphere, with the crowd getting into the fifth set, and that's not something I'm used to," he said.

Haas didn't accomplish the upset, but he certainly stretched Federer and competed until the last moment. Federer will play Nikolay Davydenko, who was taken to five sets by Dominik Hrbaty in their fourth-round match.

Yesterday, the last of the fourth-round matches were played. The men's singles quarterfinal match-ups are: Roger Federer vs. Nikolay Davydenko, Nicolas Kiefer vs. Sebastien Grosjean, Fabrice Santoro vs. David Nalbandian, and Ivan Ljubicic vs. Marcos Baghdatis.

Most of the usual suspects on the women's side are into the quarterfinals, but there are some nice Swiss surprises with the presence of Hingis as well as Patty Schnyder. The women's singles quarterfinal match-ups are: Lindsay Davenport vs. Justine Henin-Hardenne, Maria Sharapova vs. Nadia Petrova, Patty Schnyder vs. Amelie Mauresmo, and Martina Hingis vs. Kim Clijsters.

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HUMOR ME: Comparisons between Hingis and Federer are bound to occur at some time. Federer himself has said that he looks up to Hingis, but after Hingis's comeback people have said that Hingis is the female version of Federer. See this forum discussion at Tennis Warehouse for some insightful comments and revealing (*cough*Photoshopped*cough*) photo comparisons.

I also ran across a joyous ode to Hingis. If I'm glad she's back, this guy is ecstatic about it.

I figured now would be as good a time as any to alert people to the existence of a Vince Spadea fan site. Spadea Ain't Afraid of the Top Ten takes on Vince Spadea's tennis, rapping, and writing career. Created by a fan with a sense of humor, it has some great content you won't find on the official Vince Spadea website.

Speaking of official player websites, check out MatsWilander.com. It contains, among other things, a blog with content by none other than the multiple Grand Slam champ Mr. Wilander himself (with occasional updates by his webmaster Chris).

posted by Noelle De Guzman @ 10:46 AM