※ [本文轉錄自 Srichaphan 看板]
作者: yevvi (yevvi) 看板: Srichaphan
標題: [新聞] Blake lead US winners(賽後報導)
時間: Tue May 30 09:55:23 2006
Confident Venus, Blake lead US winners
By Matt Cronin
Monday, May 29, 2006
This Roland Garros has been dominated by predications of European
domination, but don't sell the U.S. short just yet.
Two of America's greatest hopes, Venus Williams and James Blake, put
up strong performances on Monday, when Blake out-muscled Paradorn Srichaphan
6-0, 6-4, 7-6 (3), and Williams knocked out Sybille Bammer 6-4, 6-3.
The eighth-ranked Blake has never advanced beyond the second round here
but came into the tournament and entirely different player than he was last
year. Now, he's confident top-10 player, he has advanced to the second week
of a Grand Slam (at the 'o5 SU Open) and has nailed down four ATP titles.
He's moving very well, his forehand is hard and accurate and his backhand
is much improved. He didn't knock off a top-flight clay court player in
Paradorn, but he did play a consistent aggressive match and adeptly took care
of business against a talented foe.
"I played Paradorn before," he said. "We played in Stockholm, he came out
kind of similar, making a lot of mistakes in the first set. But I also know
he turned it around very quickly. Even though I started out well, I wanted
to make sure to finish well. That's the most important.
I knew he was going to turn it around. … On clay courts, you're going to
get more chances. If you can convert on a lot of those chances, then you're
probably doing pretty well. I just wanted to really concentrate on those and
also to keep going for my shots."
Blake will now face excellent young clay courter, Spaniard Nicolas Almagro,
who pushed both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer this spring.
Blake knows the match will take on an entirely different complexion and
he'll have to be more patientm but also make sure not to lose his aggression."
"I'm really excited to play because it's going to be a test to see how I do
against the best clay courters," Blake said. "Obviously, I'd rather play him
in the quarterfinals or semifinals. But second round, it will be a great way
to find out how good I am against another clay courter. It will be a lot more
spin, a lot more sliding, a lot more defense, and just a little more normal
clay court tennis. It will be interesting to see how good I've gotten because
I feel like I've improved so much since last year. I also know that he's
young.
Hopefully this is a big match for him where he's playing a guy that's top
10. Maybe that can have an effect on his mentality. I'm sure he's hungry to
beat a top 10 player. I have to try to match that intensity."
Venus had only played three tournaments prior to Roland Garros, but she
has her game face on. She played very decently in Warsaw and Rome, splitting
matches with her archrival Martina Hingis, and while errors are still
creeping into her game, her standout defense and vast experience will aid her
well.
"Definitely not playing as well as I'm capable, but definitely moving up"
Williams said. "Just playing solid. Really mentally pretty good.
Sometimes I lose a bit of clarity. That comes with a few more matches."
Venus reached the Roland Garros final four years ago before falling to
her younger sister, Serena. She's taken some tough losses in France,
including her meltdown last year to Sesil Karatantcheva. But in her previous
nine appearances here, she's reached the quarterfinals four times, which
indicates that she's a decent threat to reach the second week.
While she's still a little rusty, she won't count herself out of a title
run.
"I always feel like [I can win] for sure," she said. "I think it's the truth.
At this point, it's definitely round by round. That's the best way to take
it, especially if you've been off a little…. I don't think anyone wants to
say, yeah, I definitely want to play Venus Williams. I don't think that at
all."
American Robby Ginepri, the 17th seed, was down two sets to one and 0-3
in the forth set against Alberto Montanes before their match was suspended
for darkness.
Of the other American men, only lucky loser Kevin Kim triumphed. Paul
Goldstein, Justin Gimelstob and Vince Spadea all went down to defeat.
Among the US women, Ashley Harkleroad came through, but Amy Frazier and
Vania King both fell.
Australian Alicia Molik won her comeback match.
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