Rare is it to see a backhand struck the way it is by Grand Slam winner and former World No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo. The return from the Frenchwoman is a classic shot – single handed and straight out the pages of Tennis 101. It is a beautiful shot, but most of the way Mauresmo plays the game is beautiful.
She may not be the World No. 1 anymore, but she is always worth watching. Students of the game can learn so much with how she hits the ball.
Mauresmo is just coming back after a short break following Wimbledon. Breaking the season into two parts is something she has done for a few years and it gives her a nice little holiday in the middle and refreshes her for the second half of the year.
Seeded No. 8 Mauresmo won her first match at Pilot Pen Tennis presented by Schick, by defeating Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-1, and will next play Alona Bondarenko. The Ukrainian defeated American Meghann Shaughnessy the day before.
“(Ai) gave me most of the trouble in the first half of the first set,” Mauresmo said. “I was having trouble getting into a rhythm with my game. My game is not in the right place yet and I needed that first set to get rhythm. I played at a better level in the second set but I have only played one event since Wimbledon.”
Mauresmo said she needs to develop more consistency and she needs time to adjust. There was some good tennis from her and some not so good tennis. It was a “bit up and down” but added that it was “coming together”.
She was happy with the way she played from the baseline and she had some good variation. What satisfied her was that she didn’t give up any free points but against Bondarenko she will need to lift things another notch.
“She’s a great player and likes to play with good rhythm and at a good level,” Mauresmo said. “She does not have huge, huge power but she reads the game well and moves well.”
They have played twice before and the head to head is 2-0 to Bondarenko.
American men had some positive results with Robert Kendrick and Kevin Kim scoring wins. Kendrick moved past the Danish qualifier Frederik Nielsen 6-3, 7-5 and Kim accounted for Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.
Wild card Marcos Baghdatis fell at the first hurdle, beaten by Portguese qualifier Frederico Gil 6-4, 6-3, while Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei, the highest ranked Asian player on the Tour, defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-2, 6-2.
Agnieszka Radwanska, the fifth seed, was the day’s first winner on center court; she beat Roberta Vinci in a very tight contest 2-6, 6-2, 7-6. Russian women Elena Vesnina and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova scored comfortable straight sets wins over Gisela Dulko and Ekaterina Makarova respectively.
Day three of Pilot Pen Tennis presented by Schick has a fantastic line-up of matches. Starting off the main court will be ninth seed Samantha Stosur, who this week is at a career high ranking or 15, against Alize Cornet. Men’s top seed Nikolay Davydenko, the champion here three years ago, plays Kendrick and then second seed Fernando Verdasco takes on Paul Capdeville of Chile in an all-Spanish speaking match.
Women’s defending champion Caroline Wonziacki opens her challenge for a second title by facing Edina Gallovits in the first of the night matches and they will be followed by American Mardy Fish.
Also on court will be American Taylor Dent, Flavia Pennetta, Tommy Robredo and veteran Fabrice Santoro who this week is making his last appearance in New Haven having announced his retirement for the end of the year. Nicknamed “the magician”, it’s worth watching what he does on court. He doesn’t quite pull a rabbit out of a hat, but his strokes have often made his opponent’s game disappear quickly.
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