Du Maurier Open Match Reports

by Chris Gerby

(Check for more coverage from "On The Line Tennis E-Zine"!)

Dominique van Roost vs. Jana Nejedly
Singles: 1st Round
Centre Court

(CHECK THE INTERVIEW WITH DOMINIQUE)

Seeded 12th and enjoying the best season of her professional career, Dominique van Roost found herself in the featured match of Monday's afternoon session. Of course, the marquee treatment had more to do with her opponent, Canada's own Jana Nejedly. Coming right on the heels of countrywoman Sonja Jeyaseelan's opening round win, Nejedly would look to claim an even bigger victory for the home fans.

Since the serve is generally regarded as the weakest part of Van Roost's game, it came as no great surprise when she chose to receive upon winning the coin toss. That bit of strategy worked like a charm, as the Belgian broke Nejedly at 30. Van Roost used big groundstrokes to hold for 2-0, but Nejedly got to 2-1 with some of her own. Facing break point for the first time, Van Roost threw in one of her trademark double faults. She recovered well in Game 5, however, getting to 15-30 with a sparkling drop shot and claiming the break by punching home a backhand volley.

Van Roost rattled off two more games for a 5-2 lead, but her attempt to serve it out was woeful -- Nejedly took advantage of a double fault and an overrule to reach 5-3. Nejedly fought off a set point in Game 9 and forced Van Roost to try serving for it again. Quite a tussle ensued, Dominique warding off two break points and squandering two set points. She finally did capture the set, taking it 6 game to 4 by forcing Nejedly into a lunging forehand error. It took a relatively taxing 43 minutes, but the 12th seed had a set in the bank.

Van Roost was more or less firing on all cylinders early in the second, dropping only one point in each of its first two games. Nejedly resumed holding her own in the rallies, managing to evade six seperate break points and finally holding for 2-1. Van Roost blasted right back, serving considerably better than in the first set and reeling off three games in a row. The end appeared to be in sight when Jana opened Game 7 with two double faults in a row. She came back to win four points in a row, though, and narrowed the gap to 5-2.

Van Roost laid claim to a 40-0 lead in the next game before -- as if just to make sure we knew it was still a problem -- committing her eighth double fault of the afternoon. She got in a good serve at 40-15 and the defensive return by Nejedly flew past the baseline. While perhaps not in her best form, Dominique van Roost had managed to dash Canadian hopes with a solid 6-4, 6-2 win.

Martinez/Tarabini vs. Labat/Van Roost
Doubles: 1st Round
Court 1

Two of the day's big winners looked to make their Monday complete by scoring an upset in doubles. I got back to Court 1 in time to see Dominique van Roost and Florencia Labat fight off a break point in holding for a 3-1 lead over #6 seeds Conchita Martinez and Patricia Tarabini. The underdogs got what they considered a bad call in the next game. Van Roost asked of the overrule, "Which one is out? THIS one is out?" Labat took over from there, saying -- among other things -- "It's not even on the line...unbelievable...second mistake today." Martinez went on to hold serve for 3-2.

An easy hold for Labat made it 4-2. She and Van Roost may have been right about the umpire, since Dominique had to correct him on the score midway through Game 7. Tarabini's hold was matched by Van Roost, bringing the score to 5-3. The favorites had to fight off two set points in the next game, one of them won on a Tarabini drop shot. "Pato" followed that up with a volley winner, taking the score to 5-4.

Now it was up to Labat to serve for the set with new balls. However, a great poach by Tarabini gave her and Martinez a 15-40 lead. Florencia saved one break point with a winner, but couldn't dig out a low volley on the second break point. Martinez took over in Game 11, winning it with two overhead smashes and two volleys. The next game was a wild one. Van Roost served up three double faults, but did some nice scrambling to keep her team in the set. Game points, set points, and deuces followed. Labat nearly killed a fan in the front row with a smash and Van Roost nearly killed a ball by slamming it to the court (although she also engaged in some good-natured banter with fans in between points). It all ended on a missed volley by Labat. Martinez and Tarabini won four straight games to take a 7-5 set.

Immediately after the first set, Labat and Van Roost walked over to their chairs and had a discussion. I thought perhaps they were going to retire, since this wasn't a scheduled changeover. However, I guess they were just getting regrouped. Whatever they said must have worked. At 1-1 in the second, Van Roost rifled a huge backhand down the line to complete a break of Tarabini's serve. The lead didn't hold up for long. Game 4 highlighted one of the main chinks in the Labat/Van Roost armor -- they were hitting lousy lobs, either long of the baseline or short enough to be easily smashed. Even in the one point they won in the game, Tarabini got the crowd's approval. As a Labat smash was sailing over her head, Tarabini threw her racquet into the sky and nearly made contact!

Each player came up with an easy hold on the way to 4 games all. Still playing with admirable fire under the lights, Labat and Van Roost put together a quick break of Martinez. The challenge of serving out the set once again fell to Labat. It was another close, see-saw game and it ended on an ugly note. On break point, the chair umpire called a Van Roost shot long. Labat was livid, but it was her partner who put forth a memorable argument. Van Roost lectured the umpire: "The problem is that you don't care about this doubles. It doesn't matter to you what happens, but it matters to us."

The crowd agreed and applauded loudly when Labat and Van Roost took the first two points of the following game. The rally came up short, though, and Tarabini held on for 6-5. At deuce in the set's twelfth game, Conchita blasted a backhand winner down the line and let out a hollar of "vamos". Facing match point, Van Roost committed one last double fault. She took the 7-5, 7-5 loss in stride, however. Van Roost shook hands with the despised umpire and signed many autographs for the fans. It was far from easy, but Conchita Martinez and Patricia Tarabini survived the first round.

Dominique van Roost vs. Yayuk Basuki
Singles: 2nd Round
Court 2

12th seeded Dominique van Roost and Indonesia's Yayuk Basuki opened Wednesday's play on Court 2. The match figured to feature an interesting contrast of styles, with Basuki relying on her good serve and net skills while Van Roost would look to dictate from the baseline. Their last match had been a close, break-filled affair at this year's Australian Open, with Basuki prevailing 6-4, 6-4. A repeat did not appear likely in the early going. Basuki double faulted to end the first game and failed to capitalize on a Van Roost double fault in the second. After each player finished up easy holds with service winners, the score was 3-1 in favor of the Belgian.

Van Roost further took control of the match in Game 5, getting a clean winner with a drop shot on the way to breaking at 15. She was playing the right kind of tennis, keeping Basuki away from the net by hitting hard, deep groundstrokes. That pattern continued in the next game, a Van Roost hold for 5-1. Basuki got down set point in the following game, but survived by putting great spin on a high risk, high reward drop shot. Van Roost advanced to set point twice more in the game, but Basuki fought both off with service winners and finally held with a nifty half-volley winner. At 5-2, Gavin Hopper arrived, undoubtedly to scout the match for his charge Monica Seles, who will be facing the victor on Thursday.

Van Roost got herself into a 0-40 hole with a double fault, rallied back to 30-40, and promptly double faulted again to lose the next game. Basuki threw in a double herself at 30-30 in Game 9, giving the favorite a fourth chance to win the set. However, Basuki came through with an ace out wide to stave off the set point. Van Roost got a fifth break chance soon after, but lost it as well when her forehand service return hit the tape. Basuki eventually hung on with a service winner and was right back in the match at 5-4. Van Roost did little with her second opportunity to serve it out, getting down 15-40 and losing the game on an unreturnable Basuki forehand.

The dizzying fall from 5-1 to 5-5 left Van Roost frustrated and Basuki invigorated. Yayuk held serve for 6-5 and stormed out to a 15-40 lead against the perpetually suspect Van Roost serve. On her very first set point, Basuki left no doubt -- a backhand pass down the line gave her the set 7 games to 5. Dominique's sudden tailspin continued into the second set. She lost its first four games in short order, making it a total of ten in a row for Basuki. Van Roost appeared to be in a daze and the way she buried her head in a towel throughout each changeover spoke to her lack of confidence. Never one to give up, though, Van Roost got one of the breaks back, smacking two consecutive return winners at deuce and getting back to within 4-1. She then put together one of her best service games of the day, holding for 4-2.

Basuki nearly squandered a 40-0 lead in Game 7, but at 40-30 she ripped a timely forehand winner. Van Roost held for 5-3 and appeared to meditate between games, standing very still and holding her racquet to her forehead. Whatever she was thinking there couldn't stop her opponent's serve. Basuki hit aces on the last two points of the match, completing a 7-5, 6-3 upset. 1998 has been largely disappointing for Yayuk Basuki, but she may very well be turning things around here in Montreal.

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