Tiap hari saya ikuti jalannya pertandingan tennis
dunia Australia Open 2005 yang digelar di Melbourne.
Kemarin ada duel yang menawan antara Venus Williams
(peringkat satu dunia dari Amerika) melawan pemain
muda belia Alicia Molik (Australia). Diluar dugaan,
ternyata Alicia Molik yang menang. Tepuk tangan
penonton tidak luar biasa, padahal dua hari kemudian
jatuh Australia Day yang adalah hari besar bangsa
Australia.
Setahun yang lalu, tepat pada Australia Day bertanding
Roger Federer (Swiss) melawan Lleyton Hewitt
(Australia). Seperti kita tahu, Roger Federer yang
menang. Istimewanya, ternyata penonton tidak mengamuk
tapi malahan dengan tulus menyalami si Roger Federer.
Moral of the story? isi sendiri.
Salam,
RM
------------------------------
Venus Williams' major drought continues
- JOHN PYE, AP Sports Writer
Monday, January 24, 2005
(01-24) 10:56 PST MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) --
Venus Williams was out of step and out of time.
Facing three match points, she stumbled chasing a
ball, and her off-balance forehand flopped into the
net, giving Alicia Molik a 7-5, 7-6 (3) upset Monday
in the fourth round of the Australian Open.
A group of women in the crowd of 14,225 unfurled a
banner reading: "Venus, you've been eclipsed."
But Williams didn't see it that way, even if she
hasn't been past the quarterfinals at the past six
Grand Slam tournaments.
"I feel like that was one I definitely should have
won. I just was off of my rhythm," the eighth-seeded
Williams said. "I definitely didn't produce my best
tennis, that's for sure."
She made 28 unforced errors, two more than the
10th-seeded Molik, who faces top-ranked Lindsay
Davenport in the quarterfinals. Davenport cruised past
No. 13 Karolina Sprem 6-2, 6-2 and has dropped just
one set in four matches.
Williams insists she's just as competitive now in big
matches as she was when she won the 2001 U.S. Open
final for the last of her four major titles.
"Absolutely!" she said. A string of injuries that
hampered her last year couldn't be blamed for this
loss.
At times, she showed glimpses of grace -- a leaping
overhead winner in the fifth game of the second set
was a prime example. But Williams clearly wasn't at
her best. She swatted at one of Molik's looping
forehands as if it were an irritating insect, missing
the ball twice before it landed behind her.
"This is a huge feat; I beat Venus," said Molik, the
singles bronze medalist at the Athens Olympics. "I
beat her playing my tennis, and I didn't wait for her
to make mistakes, and that's something I can be pretty
proud of."
Molik is the first Australian woman in the Open
quarterfinals since Anne Minter in 1988.
Two other top women lost: French Open champion
Anastasia Myskina and No. 6 Elena Dementieva, the
runner-up at the French Open and U.S. Open. In men's
action, No. 2 Andy Roddick, No. 3 Lleyton Hewitt, No.
9 David Nalbandian and No. 26 Nikolay Davydenko moved
into the quarterfinals.
Myskina and Dementieva were among seven Russians to
make it to the round of 16, but only Wimbledon
champion Maria Sharapova and U.S. Open titlist
Svetlana Kuznetsova reached the quarterfinals. They
will face each other on Tuesday, when men's No. 1 seed
Roger Federer will try to keep his 25-match winning
streak alive against four-time Australian Open winner
Andre Agassi.
The third-seeded Myskina had 45 unforced errors in her
6-4, 6-2 loss to No. 19 Nathalie Dechy, a 25-year-old
Frenchwoman in the quarterfinals of a major for the
first time in 37 appearances.
"I couldn't focus during the match. I lost a lot of
easy balls," Myskina said. "I think I have to forget
this match."
Dementieva led 12th-seeded Patty Schnyder by a set and
two breaks before losing 6-7 (6), 7-6 (4), 6-2 in a
match marred by 116 unforced errors.
Williams lost 13 games through three straight-set wins
before facing Molik and thought she was in decent
form.
"I would definitely say that when I'm playing well, I
feel like I'm the best. And today was not my best,
absolutely not my best," Williams said. "I wasn't
hitting it cleanly enough. I felt like my movement
wasn't as good as the previous rounds."
Asked if Molik can win the title, Williams said she'd
like to think her younger sister, Serena, could get in
the way.
"You know, it's out of my hands now," Williams said.
"I kind of want Serena to win. So that's my horse
now."
Roddick struggled with the serve of Germany's Philipp
Kohlschreiber but smacked 15 aces and overcame a
second-set letdown to win 6-3, 7-6 (8), 6-1.
"I actually had a little trouble getting used to a
serve coming from a righty, as weird as that sounds,"
said Roddick, who opened with matches against three
straight left-handers. "Took me a little while to get
on it."
He next faces Davydenko, who beat No. 12 Guillermo
Canas 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.
Against the 102nd-ranked Kohlschreiber, Roddick was
erratic in the second set, doubling his unforced
errors to 12 and throwing his racket to the court
after sending a forehand long.
"I don't think I hit the ball as clean as I did in the
first three matches," he said. "I just felt like I was
fighting it a little bit more. I'm not too concerned.
The good thing is I don't feel like I had my best day,
and we're here talking about a three-set win."
Hewitt overcame a sore right hip to beat unseeded
Rafael Nadal 7-5, 3-6, 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2.
Hewitt said the hip, injured at a warmup tournament in
Sydney, should not affect him in his next match,
against Nalbandian in a rematch of the 2002 Wimbledon
final. Nalbandian beat No. 6 Guillermo Coria 5-7, 7-5,
6-3, 6-0 in an all-Argentine baseline struggle that
went about 31/2 hours and ended just after 2 a.m.
local time Tuesday.
Trying to finish points quickly to limit his movement,
Hewitt committed five consecutive errors in the fourth
set after going ahead 0-40 while holding a 3-2 lead.
He then proved that he deserved his reputation as a
battler. Hewitt got to a tiebreaker and won it,
punctuating the points with his trademark fist pumps
and shouts of "Come on!"
That got the fans roaring and left the 18-year-old
Nadal shaking his head.
"This crowd is second to none," Hewitt said. "I was
hurting a little bit in the third set. You try to get
all of the negative thoughts out of your mind."
URL:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/01/24/sports1356EST0254.DTL
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
Give the gift of life to a sick child.
Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks & Giving.'
http://us.click.yahoo.com/lGEjbB/6WnJAA/E2hLAA/BRUplB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
***************************************************************************
Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg
Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny. www.ppi-india.uni.cc
***************************************************************************
__________________________________________________________________________
Mohon Perhatian:
1. Harap tdk. memposting/reply yg menyinggung SARA (kecuali sbg otokritik)
2. Pesan yg akan direply harap dihapus, kecuali yg akan dikomentari.
3. Lihat arsip sebelumnya, www.ppi-india.da.ru;
4. Satu email perhari: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
5. No-email/web only: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
6. kembali menerima email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
