Midweek finds us in the meaty part of this tournament with lots of matches going on the periphery courts and play happening from 9 a.m. till late night.
Number three seed Marion Bartoli and Vera Dushevina were sweating it out in the blazing sun at noon on center court on Wednesday. Their first game stretched out a shocking 20 minutes and 36 points till Bartoli finally broke Dushevina’s serve. Bartoli’s ground strokes sounded like cannon fire as she made her strategic shots with both precision and remarkable power. Dushevina kept adjusting her game and getting the ball back, seeming to put less effort in for almost the same percentages, at least in the first set. Bartoli’s game was better overall and there was a match payoff in the end.
Aleksandra Wozniak and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova also had a heated first set with a nail-biting tiebreaker (7-6(5)) which Wozniak won. That momentum remained and Wozniak won the second set 6-2 for the match.
The Nadia Petrova and Jill Craybas match was also well-attended and Petrova won after a hard-fought battle on court.
Later that night, Venus Williams beat Jelena Jankovic 7-5, 6-0, a big win over the much higher ranked player. And with both Venus and Rodionova on the rise and playing so well, their match Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m. is sure to be exciting. Serena also has a match Thursday at 1 p.m. against Marina Erakovic, so fans of the Williams sisters get a double shot. These players have big names and the big games to go with them. And we get the chance to see how it all plays out when it really counts. Game on.
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