※ [本文轉錄自 Srichaphan 看板]
作者: yevvi (yevvi) 看板: Srichaphan
標題: [新聞] Srichaphan Defeats El Aynaoui(賽後報導)
時間: Thu Sep 1 15:16:20 2005
Srichaphan Defeats El Aynaoui in Battle of Good Guys
by Neil E. Schlecht
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
In a highly anticipated first-round match between two unseeded fan
favorites — a day match that began under the lights on a packed Court 11 —
Paradorn Srichaphan and Younes El Aynaoui put on an initially entertaining
but short-lived show that didn't quite live up to expectations.
Srichaphan, who rose to No. 11 in the rankings in 2003 but has recently
fallen out of the top 50, proved too strong for the rusty Moroccan, who was
making his return to Grand Slam play after more than a year's absence due to
a lingering foot injury and shoulder problem.
The first two sets were tightly contested, with Srichaphan breaking El
Aynaoui at the end of each, but the Thai then ran away with the match, 6-4,
6-3, 6-0. Srichaphan never lost serve, converted on half of his own break
point opportunities, and generated 39 winners in the contest, compared to
just 17 for El Aynaoui.
This was a match between two of the genuinely nice guys on tour.
Srichaphan, from Thailand, is revered in his homeland and across Asia. Though
his play has been off from the highs of the last two years, his fan base is a
dedicated, vocal group of red-shirted, stick-banging enthusiasts that attends
his every match.
El Aynaoui, a.k.a. the "Rockin' Moroccan," is well known for two matches
that endeared him to tennis aficionados. In 2003, he defeated Jiri Novak in
an epic US Open match on the Grandstand; after surviving the fifth-set
tie-break, El Aynaoui emptied his bag and tossed all five of his racquets
into the bleachers. An even more riveting match was his Australian Open
quarterfinal loss to Andy Roddick earlier the same year. That encounter, which
featured a fifth-set tie-break that went to 21-19, was one of the finest
matches the decade.
But these are not just two amiable, engaging personalities. Both are
big-time shot-makers with huge forehands. In the early going, each tried to
play to the other's backhand while looking to open up the court to unleash
that forehand. Srichaphan was frequently able to sneak to net and finish off
points with touch volleys.
El Aynaoui's lack of match play was evident; he flubbed two easy overheads,
including one to lose the first set. The dreadlocked, lanky Moroccan showed a
few flashes of brilliance, but the 33-year-old ran out of steam and was
unable to repeat the magic of previous comebacks.
Srichaphan, meanwhile, is trying to put a rather lackluster 2005 behind
him. He reached the semifinals three weeks ago on hard courts in Washington,
D.C., and tonight played a solid match to advance to the second round of the
US Open.
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※ 編輯: yevvi 來自: 218.167.174.4 (09/01 15:19)
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