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Coetzer def. Halard-Decugis, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
Coetzer/Steck def. Rubin/Testud, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
Amanda's second round match against Julie Halard-Decugis was again scheduled to be on Court 18, although this time it was to be the first match on court. I planned on arriving when the gates opened, in the hope of catching Amanda practicing early before her match. My careful planning payed off, when I saw Amanda hitting up with her coach Nigel Sears on Court 18, as I was crossing the bridge from Jolimont train station. Unfortunately, by the time that the gates opened and I had walked down the ramp to the court, Amanda was just finishing up. She did give me her sweatband though, so I can't complain too much.
Given Amanda's form in her first match, and her apparent disgust with herself at practice the next day, I was apprehensive about her upcoming match against Halard-Decugis. Julie used to be a top fifteen player, before an injury put her out of action for most of 1997. Since her return, she's gotten her ranking back inside the top twenty. She also beat Coetzer the last time that they played, on clay in Strasbourg in 1998, and on a day when she was together mentally, had a game that could trouble any top player.
(Little anecdote: I was walking back to Court 18 just as the players were leaving their locker room area. Amanda and Julie were walking out together, and they were both pissing themselves laughing. It was very strange, I don't recall seeing any other opponents before a match walking out together, let alone laughing with each other.)
Anyway... from the beginning, the match had an up and down quality about it. In the first game, Amanda held serve easily and then did well to break Halard-Decugis. However, on her own serve in the next game, she played some loose shots to lose the game to love. It set the tone for much of the match; Amanda would play brilliantly to break serve but her groundstrokes seemed to desert her in her own service games. Coetzer wasn't serving badly, I thought it just appeared like she didn't get into position in time after she served. She would hit a lot of sloppy errors to be broken fairly easily. Although she constantly struggled on her own serve, Halard-Decugis was able to sneak away with the first set, and to go to a 2-0 lead in the second. But being up a break didn't mean much in this match. After an incredibly long game at 4-3 in the second set, Amanda finally held serve in what proved to be possibly the turning point of the match.
I'll say that I wasn't too worried after Amanda won the second set, 7-5. I don't think she is as fit as she was in 1997, but IMO, Amanda is still the fittest woman on the circuit. In a long three set match, in the hottest part of the day, I would have to give the advantage to Coetzer, especially given Julie's history of cracking under pressure. But the truth is that it was still anyone's game at 4-4 in the third set. Halard-Decugis actually had Amanda down 0-30 at that point, but Amanda finally produced a good service game from then on. She won the next four points, and then was able to put pressure on her opponent to serve to stay in the match. With all the service breaks in the match, it was probably inevitable that whoever won would do so by breaking, rather than by holding their own serve. Even so, I have to say that it was a high quality match, up there with the best matches that I saw live in the first week.
After that nerve-wracking experience, I decided that I had enough tennis for the day. We only watched the conclusion of the Graf/Schwartz match on Centre, before going back home. I didn't get to see Amanda pairing with Jessica Steck to take out Chanda Rubin and Sandrine Testud in the first round of the women's doubles. Probably a good idea considering that it again went to three sets, with Coetzer/Steck dropping the first set before winning the next two. :-)
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