=======
US OPEN (Flushing Meadows, New York, USA; outdoor hard; Grand Slam)
======= http://www.usopen.org/
Photos & videos
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Anna Chakvetadze:
http://www.usopen.org/en_US/players/wtaq416.html
http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?c=news_photos&p=chakvetadze
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=236270&page=6
Search Getty Images for "chakvetadze"

IMO, Tatiana beat Anna not only at tennis; she also won the beauty-
contest (judging by these photos). Although no longer drop-dead
gorgeous like she was two years ago, Tatiana seems to have got rid
of much of the unappealing bulk on her body - particularly her upper
legs. Anna is cuter, but Tati is sexier, and she smiles!

srg1's photos (various players including Anna):
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=259540

Chris Gerby's US Open photos (many players):
http://www.tennis-ontheline.com/06usogal.htm

Glam Slam US Open party (various players including Anna):
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=258467 (HQs on p.10)
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK3w5yhfhpw

Video - last 9 minutes of Golovin v Chakvetadze:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9vepUc2xyk

-----------
First round (Monday 28th August)
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Nice winner, nice loser:
+ ANNA CHAKVETADZE [23] d. Martina Suchá, 6-4 6-1

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Second round (Thursday 30th August)
------------

Nice winner, nice loser:
+ ANNA CHAKVETADZE [23] d. Alyona Bondarenko, 7-6 (8/6) 6-0

-----------
Third round (Sunday 3rd September)
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+ ANNA CHAKVETADZE [23] d. Victoria Azarenka, 6-4 6-3

My comments as I wrote them at the time:

I had a good feeling that Tatiana Golovin would make Petrova pay for
her recent poor form, despite Petrova's blowouts of her previous two
opponents, but I had a nasty feeling that Anna was going to stuff up
her own golden draw, having retired from both Montréal and New Haven
with a right-forearm strain. But Anna has won all her matches quite
comfortably.

And they'll meet each other in the fourth round! It's so cool that
one of them is going to reach her first-ever Grand Slam quarter-
final... against Maria! :-)

If only Flushing Meadows were in Birmingham...


The match started at approximately 11:10 EDT, and I followed live
scores casually at www.usopen.org:

First Set:
CHAKVETA __* * *@*@ 6
AZARENKA @* * *____ 4

Second Set:
CHAKVETA *@* * * * 6
AZARENKA ___* * *_ 3

Anna won three very tough service-games en route to 4-1.

Anna serving for the match at 5-3: 0/15, 40/15 (2 MPs),
40/30 (MP #2), 40/40, ad Azarenka (BP), Deuce #2, ad Anna (MP #3),
Anna won 6-4 6-3 at 12:27 EDT.

--------------------
Fourth-round preview (as I wrote it at the time)
--------------------

If Flushing Meadows were in Birmingham (and, God willing, some day
it will be), I would be making emergency-arrangements to attend!

I was actually lucky enough to attend the first-ever Anna v Tatiana
match in the quarter-finals of Birmingham 2005 (the winner would
face Maria Sharapova, just as the winner here will if Maria beats
Li,Na).

Tatiana won that match 6-4 7-6 (7/3), much to my approval at the
time. But Anna has since overtaken Tatiana as my favourite player
outside my Eternal Fanship: watching her lose to my red-hot Vera
Zvonarëva at Birmingham and Eastbourne 2006, it was clear that Anna
is a much better player now than she was back then: now with
groundstrokes of flairsome power! :-)

Both players have very good serves, and Anna excels at the one-two
punch. It's hard to read the direction of Anna's groundstrokes, and
she can now play good spreading rallies, make her opponent's end of
the court look very wide, and hit lots of winners.

Tatiana is more of a counterpuncher, consistent rather than
spectacular, with intelligent shot-placement and rally-construction,
good command of depth, excellent footwork and a pretty big forehand.
She tends to play to the level of her opponent, going for her shots
more against top players.

I think if I was going to induct Tatiana into my Eternal Fanship, I
would have done so by now - I have already come close to doing so on
three separate occasions, only to find her tennis not up to Eternal
Fanship standards when I watch her on video. The way Anna's game is
improving makes me think that /she/ might be my next fanee.

Anna beat Tatiana 6-4 6-4 at San Diego 2005 - their only other
previous meeting. And I expect Anna to win this one, as she has
cruised through her first three rounds losing an average of six
games a match, while Tatiana played a marathon of almost three hours
against Petrova yesterday.

ANNA CHAKVETADZE [23]:
1r + Martina Suchá, 6-4 6-1
2r + Alyona Bondarenko, 7-6 (8/6) 6-0
3r + Victoria Azarenka, 6-4 6-3

TATIANA GOLOVIN [27]:
1r + Ashley Harkleroad, 6-3 7-5
2r + Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-4 6-3
3r + NADIA PETROVA [5], 7-5 6-7 (4/7) 6-3

Anna is ultracute, with a distinctive ponytail and so many winsome
on-court habits (the way her eyes bulge when she's running for a
dropshot, the way she blows with her lips when she's waiting to
receive, the Bojangles jumps she does after making errors, and even
the wasp-chewing and the tears!). And she has a beautiful nose, and
just a daintily-sculptured face all round.

Tatiana is still very attractive, but no longer drop-dead gorgeous
like she was two years ago (the last time she reached the fourth
round of a Grand Slam - two of them in fact). Her body is bulkier,
her hair suited her better when it was blonde, and she dresses much
less sexily now, wearing her famous microshorts only in practice.
But what the loss of these attributes does draw attention to, is
that she has beautiful brown eyes and a very nice mouth. And her
grunt is the sexiest sound in tennis.

I have no clear loyalty to either Anna or Tatiana for this match,
but right now I'm leaning towards Anna... whilst still carrying a
two-year torch for Tatiana.


Matt Cronin for www.usopen.org: "The last contest in the top half of
the draw is a pick 'em between ANNA CHAKVETADZE and TATIANA GOLOVIN.
I love Golovin's commitment to grind out matches, her spirit and her
willingness to mix it up with the elite players. But she's going to
be tired after a brutal three-set win over Nadia Petrova, and
Chakvetadze has a little more variety and just as much spunk. The
question is, will the Russian mentally melt down late in the third
set and begin shedding tears? I don't think so, because I see
Chakvetadze zoning and winning in straight sets."

------------
Fourth round (Monday 4th September)
------------

Nice winner, nice loser:
+ TATIANA GOLOVIN [27] d. ANNA CHAKVETADZE [23], 6-3 6-2

The match was much closer than the scoreline implies: 91 minutes and
plenty of deuce-games, but I'm disappointed that Anna couldn't make
a better match of it.

Clair Maciel for www.usopen.org:
>>>
Chakvetadze's fourth-round appearance was also a US Open career best
for her, but she just did not have enough game to beat Golovin on
Monday.

Both teenagers displayed some exciting rallies during the match, but
it was Golovin who made the fewest unforced errors to gain the edge.

In the sixth game [of the second set], Chakvetadze picked up her
level of play, testing Golovin and threatening to break on four
deuce points by keeping Golovin on the run and hitting big shots
during key moments. But Golovin's huge serve was too much for
Chakvetadze, and she held on to extend her lead to 5-1 before
closing the match on serve two games later.
<<<

Wintermute <http://www.wtaworld.com/showpost.php?p=8985661>:
>>>
Anna's first serve was not working at all. She double faulted in
each of her first three service games. She was looking pretty
annoyed with herself. Also she was having great difficulty finding
her range on her groundstrokes and many landed a foot beyond the
baseline. She didn't seem to be injecting the variety of pace that
she normally does - a lot of relatively slow balls. She only started
to show glimpses of her true ability at 0-4 down in the second set
which is kinda too late. All of this seems to indicate a recurrence
of her injury. I only saw her flexing her right arm once during the
match though and she didn't call a trainer.
<snip>
Tati overall played very solidly. She generally didn't do more than
was needed and she waited for Anna to make the error. She also
served very well. <snip>
<<<

johnoo: "anna played a sloppy tentative match a bit of belief and
she could have really made it close."


The match started at 15:41 EDT on Grandstand Court, and I followed
live scores at www.usopen.org. Here are my comments as I wrote them
at the time:


First Set:
CHAKVET _* *___*_ 3
GOLOVIN * * *@* * 6

Tati serving 0-0: 30/0 -> 30/40 (BP), 40/40, ad Tati, Deuce #2,
ad Tati, held.

An early indication of the kind of match we can expect: Anna is a
gritty fighter, while Tati loves to choke on her leads (although she
did hold her nerve against Nadia Petrova).

Anna serving 0-1: 0/15, 30/15, 30/40 (BP), 40/40, ad Tati (BP #2)...
held.
Tati serving 1-1: 30/0, held.
Anna serving 1-2: 0/30, 15/30, 15/40 (2 BPs) -> 40/40,
ad Tati (BP #3), Deuce #2, ad Anna, held.

Tatiana could easily be up 4-0, had she not wasted five break-points
so far!

Tati serving 2-2: 0/30 -> 40/30, held.
Anna serving 2-3: 15/0, 15/15, 40/15 -> 40/40, ad Anna, Deuce #2,
ad Anna, Deuce #3, ad Tati (BP), Deuce #4, ad Tati (BP #2), broken.

Seventh time lucky for Tati! I think it's much more important for
Tati to get off to a good start than Anna, because Tati's the one
who played an almost-three-hour marathon yesterday.

Tati serving 4-2: 0/15, 30/15, 30/30, 40/30, 40/40, ad Tati, held.
Anna serving to stay in the first set at 2-5: 15/0, 15/15, 15/30,
40/30, held.
Tati serving for the first set at 5-3: 0/15, 40/15 (2 SPs), 40/30,
Tati won the first set 6-3 at 16:29 (48m).


Second Set:
CHAKVET ____* *_ 2
GOLOVIN @*@* * * 6

Anna serving 0-0: 15/15, 15/30, 40/30, 40/40, ad Tati (BP),
Deuce #2, ad Tati (BP #2), broken.

Well, I didn't really expect to find Tati up a set and a break after
yesterday's marathon! She is getting many more break-points on
Anna's serve than Anna is on hers (Tati has now broken twice from 9
BPs, Anna 0 from 1). Tati can afford to be profligate... so far
(Anna could still make a big comeback).

Tati serving 1-0: 15/0, 30/15, 30/30, 40/30, 40/40, ad Anna (BP),
Deuce #2, ad Tati, Deuce #3, ad Tati, held.

Tati has now won six of the last seven games, and I have to wonder
whether it's Anna who is suffering physically - perhaps a recurrence
of the right-forearm strain with which she retired from Montréal and
New Haven?

Anna serving 0-2: 0/15, 15/15, 15/40 (2 BPs), broken.

Or perhaps Anna is just freezing in her first Grand Slam fourth
round while Tati, though younger, has been there twice before.

Whatever it is, I can imagine a lot of wasps and tears from Anna
round about now! ;-) There's no way back for her now unless Tati has
a major choke or sprains her ankle again.

Tati serving 3-0: 40/0, 40/15, 40/30, held.
Anna serving 0-4: 15/0, 15/15, 40/15, held.

That's only the second game Anna has won in the last ten. But she
won't be fighting only to add respectability to the scoreline; I
think she's ambitious enough to be pushing for a win even now!
Especially against Tatiana, who is still saddled with the "I Choke"
label, and would surely run out of gas if this went to a third set.

TheBoiledEgg: "Anna's been slow-balling all thru match
"got a feeling her arm is still hurting and hasnt been able to hit
thru the ball"

Tati serving 4-1: 0/30, 15/30, 30/30, 30/40 (BP), 40/40, ad Tati,
Deuce #2, ad Tati, Deuce #3, ad Anna (BP #2), Deuce #4, ad Tati,
held.

That could well have been the key game of the whole match, and I
wish Anna had taken one of those break-points, because things would
have got very interesting at 4-2 with the momentum in Anna's favour.

5-1 doesn't give Anna much time to dig in, although the last game is
often the hardest to win when you're in sight of as important a
victory as Tati is now, having never reached the quarter-finals of a
Grand Slam yet, and being prone to choke.

Anna serving 1-5: held to love.
Tati serving for the match at 5-2: 15/0, 15/30, 40/30 (MP #1),
40/40, ad Anna (BP), Deuce #2, ad Tati (MP #2), Tati won 6-3 6-2 at
17:12 (second set 43m, match 1h31m).

All too easy. I was rooting for Anna to extend the match - not that
I wanted Tati to lose from 6-3 *5-2 and two match-points up.

On the other hand, Tati needed an easy victory to have any chance
against (presumably) Maria Sharapova in the quarter-finals, after
Tati's three-hour marathon against Petrova. I mean, my ultimate
loyalty is to Maria all the way to the title (since Maria is the
only member of my Eternal Fanship left in the draw), but I would be
disappointed if Tatiana didn't give her a good match, as she's done
in all three of their previous meetings.

But this match was much closer than the scoreline implies: a 6-3 6-2
match usually takes about 70 minutes, but this one took 91. Some
quick three-setters take about 90 minutes! There were a lot of
close, deucy games in this match.


Statistics
----------

Tatiana had a positive W:UE ratio of 23:21, while Anna's was a
negative 25:29 (they were both 12:14 in the first set).

Tatiana got 70% of her first serves in, winning 68% of the points
when she did so, and 52% on second serve (Anna 56%, 64% and 43%).
Tatiana's first-serve percentages deteriorated in the second set
while her second-serve percentage improved.

Tatiana served four aces and two double faults, while Anna was
disappointing with 6 double faults and only one ace.

Tatiana served bigger than Anna: fastest 113-109 mph, average first
serve 102-100 mph, second serve 86-83mph. These speeds are
comparable with Maria Sharapova and Nicole Vaidišová!

Tatiana broke 3 times from 10 break-points (only once from 7 in the
first set), while Anna had 5 break-points and wasted them all.

They approached the net 14 times each, Anna winning 9 points,
Tatiana 7.

In points, Tatiana won 77-63 (first set 41-33, second 36-30).

---------------
Women's Doubles
---------------

Anna Chakvetadze/Elena Vesnina:
1r + Jamie Hampton/Ashley Weinhold [WC], 6-2 6-2
2r + Emma Laine/Selima Sfar, 6-4 6-3
3r - VIRGINIA RUANO PASCUAL/PAOLA SUÁREZ [7], 6-4 4-6 4-6

FlushingMeadows: "I've been a fan of Anna's since seeing her knock
off Myskina at the US Open a couple of years ago, so I went over to
congratulate her on a good match and good tournament. Unfortunately,
the day's events were too much for her and tears were flowing."

--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jeldani/