Sorry sis, Serena to Venus

Serena outsmarts sister Venus in their semifinal contest at the Bangalore Open

BANGALORE: In an overpowering display of technical acumen over pure brawn Patty Schnyder outthought Zi Yan to execute a clinical 6-3 6-4 decimation in their semifinal of the $600,000 Canara Bank Bangalore Open. She will take on Serena Williams in the final who downed sister Venus 6-3 3-6 7-6 (4).

Schnyder took away the pace from her groundstrokes to inject a heavier dose of topspin. The ball bounded higher than mere altitude could induce and Yan who revels in feeding off her opponents power, was constantly forced to adjust her footwork to meet the rising ball.

As Schnyder mixed up the cocktail more potent by varying the depth along with a sprinkling of underspun backhands, it all became too heady for Yan to keep her
bearings.

Yan could have countered her opponents gameplan by taking the ball even more early than she usually does. She tried. However, Schnyder seemed well prepared for the eventuality and began throwing in the occasional flat stroke to keep Yan guessing.

The final double fault from Yan signalled the end of the match while at the same time announcing that her resolve had caved in the face of an opponent who had obviously done her homework.

What made the win even more creditable was that Schnyder did not lose the plot till the end. It is difficult to stick to the best of gameplans and keep adapting it to the opponent’s counter attack.

The Swiss player, though, managed it with aplomb. She broke the Chinese six times to the three breaks she suffered.  That tennis is more a mental sport than a mere display of brute force was clearly evident in this match.

The showcase event of the day was meant to be the Williams sisters face-off. Instead the match proved to be quite a dampener on the energy that had infused the crowd after the first encounter. The 6-3 3-6 7-6 (4) win for Serena put her 8-7 ahead in the rivalry between the two.

With hardly a few rallies getting the crowd going, it was no surprise that only towards the end of the humdinger third set did the crowd get really involved.

At 5-4 while serving for the match, Serena had a match point. When she served again at 5-6, Venus had the next chance to finish it all off. The intensity of the last few games raised high expectations for the tiebreaker.

Eventually Serena prevailed but both players seemed unable to raise their game and it was hardly the kind of tennis expected from the two who have 14 singles Grand Slam titles between them. The best bit came in the end but it was perhaps too little for the many who had turned out to see two of the greatest players of the game fight it out.

Quality players do bring in the crowds as the 4,700 tickets on offer were all sold out. “The tickets are sold out and additionally 1,400 gate passes which allow entry into the venue for the giant screen were also sold,” said tournament director Sunder Raju.

The total capacity is 7,300 and the sponsor tickets and free passes comprise the rest. Of course, if a certain Sania Mirza was on show, perhaps even the aisles would have been choked.