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Hometown favourite Dubois advances to third round at Rogers Cup |
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Written by Arpon Basu, THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Sunday, 03 August 2008 |
Stephanie Dubois from Laval, Que., salutes the crowd following her victory over Maria Kirilenko. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
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MONTREAL - Though it's the second straight time she's reached the third round of her home tournament, it was an entirely different Stephanie Dubois scratching and clawing her way Wednesday into the round of 16.
The native of Laval, Que., defeated the tournament's 13th seed Maria Kirilenko of Russia 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (4) at the US$1.34 million Rogers Cup.
However, the other hometown attraction suffered a different fate as Aleksandra Wozniak of nearby Blainville, Que., fell to second seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-0, 6-4 in the evening's final match, while the tournament also lost some star power when third seed Maria Sharapova withdrew with a shoulder injury following her second round win over Poland's Marta Domachowska.
For Dubois, Wednesday's win brought back memories from when she advanced to the tournament's third round in Montreal in 2006, but that was only after a dominant Kim Clijsters - then ranked number two in the world - was forced to retire with a left wrist injury leading 6-1, 2-3 in the second set.
This time Dubois earned it, gutting out a match that took nearly three hours and fighting back after falling behind 5-4 in the third set with Kirilenko serving for the match.
"I was doing my best, but (Clijsters) had the momentum when she injured herself," Dubois said. "But today, I think I really went to take the match. I believed in myself that I could win this match, and I went all the way. So it's different, but I'm really proud right now."
Dubois' coach Simon Larose says that belief in herself is the biggest change between the player who celebrated as if she'd just won the tournament when Clijsters retired in 2006 to the player who took a legitimate win over a top-20 player in stride Wednesday.
"Sometimes you think it's bigger than it is, so I think that showed she was a player lacking a bit of self-confidence, and now she's completely different," Larose said. "It's not a surprise to me. I'm not saying I knew she was going to win, but I'm not surprised she won."
The decisive third set was a back and forth battle, with Dubois matching Kirilenko every step of the way. After Kirilenko broke Dubois to go up 2-1, Dubois broke right back to even it at 2-2. Kirilenko again went up a break to go up 5-4, fighting back from a 15-40 deficit when Dubois' first serve abandoned her. Dubois again went ahead 15-40 in the next game, but this time she converted on her second break point to tie it 5-5.
"It makes a difference when you start a point with confidence," Dubois said of her ability to stay focused on the pivotal points. "Before, I didn't have that as much."
In the tiebreak, Dubois got the first mini-break to go up 4-2 when Kirilenko shot wide on an easy overhead, something she attributed to a lacking of lift in her legs late in a gruelling match.
"It was like I had bubble gum here," Kirilenko said, pointing to the bottom of her shoe. "I couldn't move. I did something with my hand, but it was a terrible smash."
Dubois won both of the next points on her serve to make it 6-3, giving her three match points. She converted the second one, hitting a nice drop shot volley to force Kirilenko to hit into the net, sending the partisan Uniprix Stadium crowd into a frenzy.
Dubois said having that support throughout the match added some pressure, but it was welcomed.
"I see it more as positive pressure," she said. "It gives you a push having the crowd behind you."
While Dubois jumped out to a quick start in her match, Wozniak was unable to find her rhythm early against the powerful Jankovic. Only 20 minutes after the match began, Wozniak had won only five points - let alone a game - in losing the first set at love.
With the match starting just before 11 p.m., Wozniak said she had trouble getting into the game because of the late start, but also because Jankovic played nearly flawless tennis.
"I had nothing to lose, but she really played a perfect match with very few errors," Wozniak said. "It was a little tough to see the ball early because I'm not used to playing that late, but then I kind of figured it out in the second set."
Jankovic quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second set before Wozniak found her game and won the next two games to knot the set at 2-2. With the second set tied 4-4, Jankovic took over and closed the match by winning the final two games, needing only an hour to dispatch Wozniak.
However, Wozniak won't let the defeat to one of the world's top players dampen her spiritis as she will still climb the WTA rankings thanks to her first round victory Tuesday.
"I'm going to be in the top 40 world next week," she said. "So I'm just really satisfied."
Up-and-coming Michelle Larcher de Brito, a 15-year-old qualifier from Portugal, also pulled an upset by ousting 15th seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy in three sets, 6-3, 0-6, 6-3. It is the second straight time this year the teenager has reached the third round of a tier one event, following her third round loss to Israel's Shahar Peer in March at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.
Top-seeded Serb Ana Ivanovic and Sharapova each ran trouble before prevailing in three sets despite nagging injuries. Ivanovic was tested by Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, winning 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 while playing with a swollen right thumb she injured practising 10 days earlier. But she refused to use that as an excuse for her performance Wednesday in her first match since Wimbledon.
"I went on the court and that means that I felt 100 per cent ready to play," Ivanovic said. "So, obviously it takes some time to get in a rhythm. But I went through this match. It would probably be the same even if I was feeling 100 per cent."
Sharapova beat Domochowska 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 in a three-hour marathon. She had the trainer come out trailing 3-4 in the second set to look at her right shoulder, which may have contributed to her committing 17 double faults in the match. Though she eventually lost the second set, Sharapova won the first four games of the final set to lock up the match.
"I was not even sure if I was going to continue in the beginning of the third set because it was getting worse as the match went on," Sharapova said. "It's tough to fly all the way to Montreal and play two sets and say, 'I'm done.' Maybe that's the right thing to do. But I have too many fans out there watching me that support me on a daily basis to kind of say, I'm going to head home. At least I finished the match."
Other seeds advancing into the third round included sixth-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze, seventh seed Dinara Safina of Russia, ninth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, 10th seed Marion Bartoli of France, 11th seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and 12th seed Nadia Petrova of Russia.
While one Canadian advanced, the tournament lost some of its Canadian flavour Wednesday as Toronto's Sharon Fichman and Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa lost their first round doubles match 1-6, 3-6 to the eighth-seeded Czech pair of Eva Hrdinova and Vladimira Uhlirova.
But Marie-Eve Pelletier of Repentigny, Que., moved on to the second round of the doubles draw with her partner Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand with a walkover win over Peer and Azarenka.
Tamira Paszek, a 17-year-old Austrian, bounced Hungarian qualifier Melinda Czink 6-4, 7-5. Paszek has a bit of a Canadian connection in that her father, Ariff Mohamed, lived in Toronto for some time and has both an Austrian and Canadian passport.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 03 August 2008 )
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