|
Lindsay Davenport provided the USA with the ideal start in the
seven-match Collins Cup showdown with Europe at the RDS last night when
she had a relatively comfortable victory over Austria's Barbara Schett.
A 7-5,
7-5 scoreline and a match duration of 82 minutes suggests a reasonably
tight battle, but three times Grand Slam winner Davenport always gave
the impression that she had something in reserve.
For a
significant portion of the match, Davenport, a respectable 12th place in
the World rankings, despite being sidelined with a knee injury from
January to July this year, demonstrated heavier artillery off the
ground, and her ability to unleash the ball with pinpoint accuracy and
awesome power to the corners proved a major factor in her victory.
Austrian Schett battled with tremendous tenacity, energy and verve, and
she frequently registered clean winners with her delicate backhand
sliced shots which barely cleared the net and left the 6ft 2ins
Californian stranded at the baseline.
Davenport afterwards played down suggestions that she was rarely
troubled in the match. "The two sets were quite close and I had to serve
at 0-40 and 4-4 in the second set," she argued.
"I had
to battle really hard to hold my serve in that game and altogether
Barbara had five break points.
"Of
course, both of us have not played competitively for about three weeks
since the tournament year ended, but still I thought that we provided
the spectators with a reasonably high level match. And I think they
appreciated the way we played by the amount of applause in the match."
Schett,
who cannot recall ever scoring a win over Davenport, was particularly
disappointed of her failure to avail of the five break points in the
ninth game of the second set.
"I
definitely had my chances in that game, and if I had gone ahead I could
well have taken Lindsay to three sets. But in fairness to her, she hit
some great points and so I can't have any complaints."
That
ninth game of the second set provided a particular example of
Davenport's ability to extricate herself from difficult situations.
After saving four break points, Davenport unleashed three clean winners
on the trot to help her edge into a 5-4 lead. A forehand to the corner
levelled at deuce for the American, and then another forehand to the
corner, and a backhand to the corner ended Schett's hopes of serving for
a 6-4 lead.
In the
first set, Schett provided herself with a major boost, when she stunned
the crowd, who not surprisingly gave more vocal encouragement to the
Austrian, by breaking Davenport to take a 3-2 lead.
But
the American wasted no time in storming back, responding with a break in
the next game to 30, a blistering forehand down the line from Davenport
and a netted sliced backhand from her opponent taking the last two
points in the game.
After
failing to avail of the five break points in the ninth game of the
second set, Schett thundered back into contention by serving out to love
in the next game, which featured two fine aces.
However, Davenport dropped only one point in the next game to go 6-5 up,
a glorious forehand to the corner closing out the game.
The
writing looked on the wall for Schett when she quickly went 0-40 down in
the next game, through three unforced errors a netted backhand slice, a
wide forehand and a netted forehand.
The
Austrian, thus, faced three match points, but some sloppy play from her
opponent allowed her back into contention. Firstly, Schett left
Davenport flat-footed with a forehand to the corner, but then the
American made a feeble return and the ball sat up nicely for Schett to
hit a clean winner. A backhand to the corner brought deuce and after
Davenport had taken the next point, Schett saved another match point
when Davenport netted a forehand.
But
then a splendidly executed cross-court backhand edged Davenport in front
again and she closed out the match when her opponent netted a forehand. | 
