Dechy and Safina in Doubles Final - Together, This Time
By Aimee Berg
Thursday, September 6, 2007
A year ago, Nathalie Dechy and Dinara Safina were on opposite sides
of the net in the US Open women’s doubles final. This time, they
earned a berth in the final together by defeating Kveta Peschke and
Rennae Stubbs, 6-4, 6-4, in Thursday’s semifinal.
As if the match wasn’t dramatic enough — with 2006 US Open champion
Dechy refusing to be broken in the fifth game of the second set at 0-40
by launching three unreturnable serves and a pair of aces, and with
Dechy and Safina winning both sets by breaking Stubbs’ serve in the
definitive games — the fiery Stubbs also yelled at line judges for
failing to call shots “out,” smashed the net, kicked the line, and
gave a lengthy glare to a spectator whose cell phone rang during a point.
In the tunnel leading out of the grandstand, Stubbs’ frustration was
audible again as she turned 180-degrees to face her partner Peschke and
yell, “In that first game, we had em at love 40! Love 40! LOVE 40!”
referring to the game that Dechy served so well, adding that had they
won it, “It’s a completely different match.” All else being the same,
she was right. Stubbs-Peschke would have gone up 3-2, and had both teams
held serve in the next four games as they did, Stubbs would have served
for the second set at 5-4. Instead, she was broken at 4-5 and lost a
chance to try to repeat her 2001 US Open doubles title.
Looking ahead to the final against Yung-Jan Chan and Chia-Jung Chuang
of Chinese Taipei, Safina, 21, said part of the strategy will be to
“Keep enjoying like we’re doing and play with a smile.”
Grandstand - WD - Semifinals
Kveta Peschke CZE (6)
Rennae Stubbs AUS (6) 4 4
Nathalie Dechy FRA (7)
Dinara Safina RUS (7) Winner 6 6
Match Facts
- Match featured 15 break points (4 converted - 3 of them by Dechy
and Safina)
- Nine of the 20 games went to deuce
- Dechy and Safina are now 1-0 against Stubbs and Peschke
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