Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario has put Spain in a strong position at the end of the first day's play in the Austria vs Spain Semifinal, by beating Barbara Schett 63 76(5) to secure a 2-0 lead for Spain.
Early on, Spanish No.1 Conchita Martinez gave Spain a 1-0 lead in the Fed Cup Semifinal against Austria, by defeating Patricia Wartusch 60 75 in today’s opening singles match in Maspalomas, Gran Canaria.
Afterwards, the 30–year-old spoke of Spain’s desire to win the coveted Fed Cup trophy for the sixth time. “It always means a lot to play Fed Cup and it is great to play for your country. We have won it many times and played in many finals, and it would be great to win it some more,” Martinez said. “The first time it was amazing because we were not favourites to win it, and this time we are not favourites, but we know that we can do it.”
Asked if a victory this year would mean as much as her first title in 1991, Sanchez-Vicario replied: “I think that you always remember your first victory. Your dream comes true to win the Fed Cup. Conchita and I were very young when we first played and we are happy to have a chance maybe to win again, more than ten years later. We are better players with more experience and it would mean a lot to win the Fed Cup for myself, for the crowd and for my country.”
Tomorrow’s reverse singles will feature Martinez against Schett, followed by Sanchez-Vicario against Patricia Wartusch. Virginia Ruano Pascual and Magui Serna of Spain are nominated to play Schett and Wartusch in tomorrow’s fifth doubles rubber. You will be able to follow the action from this semifinal when it gets underway again at 1100 local time (GMT) tomorrow, with the FED CUP LIVE SCORING SYSTEM. ¡¡Vamos!!
26th of October, 2002: Magüi lost this afternoon in the semifinals of Luxembourg to Kveta and Babsi Rittner in the third set. SO, the 2002 WTA season is now over for Magüi, hopefully 2003 will be a great year! In any case, there's still one competition for Magüi, she will play the Fed Cup, that will be played in Spain. So hopefully, still some good news to come. Talking of the Fed Cup, I'll let you all read this very nice article about the Spanish Fed Cup Team.
Records Look set to Tumble in Gran Canaria
Facts, figures and records do not of course determine any tennis match but they can throw an interesting light on a contest. Certainly tennis historians and students of the game will be focussing on the exploits of the Spanish pairing, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Conchita Martinez, in Maspalomas during the Fed Cup Semifinals and Final. Sanchez-Vicario is the proud holder of Fed Cup record totals for number of matches won and number of singles wins, records she achieved during the first round tie this year against Hungary. She will be seeking to improve her current figures of 71 and 49 respectively.
If she does line up against Austria as expected, then Sanchez-Vicario will also be playing in her 57th Fed Cup tie, which will equal the record currently held by Virginia Wade of Great Britain. Should Sanchez-Vicario team up with Conchita Martinez for a doubles match at any point during the week, the pair will have the opportunity to extend their record as Fed Cup Win / Loss doubles leaders – they presently stand at 18-3.
If Spain reach the final, and the tie comes down to the doubles, then it is a fair bet that Martinez and Sanchez-Vicario would be given the responsibility of going into battle for the team. Twice before they have played in a doubles match for the Fed Cup title, and on both occasions they have won. In 1991 they overcame the American pairing of Gigi Fernandez and Zina Garrison 36 61 61, while in 1998 they crushed the dreams of the Swiss with a 60 62 win over Martina Hingis and Patty Schnyder.
Martinez will also be gunning for personal records. She is at the moment placed third on the all-time list for singles wins in Fed Cup, with 42. That means that, in theory – if she plays and wins two singles matches per tie with Spain reaching the final – she could pass Helena Sukova's total of 45 singles wins for second place in the list behind Sanchez-Vicario. And if either Martinez or Sanchez-Vicario reach the final and play in it, they will break the record for the most appearances in a Fed Cup Final. They currently share the record, for nine final appearances, with two Americans – Billie Jean King and Chris Evert.
Although the two Spanish Fed Cup stalwarts will be centre stage as far as individual player records are concerned, the other nations competing will have the chance to make their own bit of Fed Cup history. Austria could become the first unseeded nation ever to win the World Group Final, if they can get there. There have only been two unseeded finalists before now – Netherlands in 1997 (lost 1-4 to France) and Russia in 1999 (lost 1-4 to USA). Certainly another unseeded finalist coming so soon after these previous ones would lend even more credibility to the belief that the Fed Cup, and women's tennis in general, is growing in depth all the time.
If they find themselves 2-0 down at any point during the week, Austria will undoubtedly take heart from the fact that they came back from that deficit in 1999, against Australia in a World Group II first round tie. Barbara Schett in particular will remember that occasion since she won her second singles and teamed with Barbara Schwartz to win the deciding doubles. There have been only two other such comebacks since the Fed Cup changed its format in 1995.
To win the famous Rose Bowl trophy, Austria, Italy and the Slovak Republic are all in the position of having to do so in what would be their first appearance in a Fed Cup Final. Of the 12 nations who have reached a final, only five have emerged victorious from their debut final – USA, South Africa, Czech Republic, France and Belgium.
So what does all this mean? Well, apart from making the recall of Conchita Martinez to the Spanish team a little easier to understand, perhaps not that much, at least in terms of the outcome of the ties. For when the players take to the court in Maspalomas, records will probably not be at the forefront of their thoughts – winning for their country will.
24th of October, 2002: Magüi lost in the second round of Luxembourg to Kim Clijsters 6-3 6-1, but she's still in the doubles competition, where she's already in the semifinals (partnering Boogert) after defeating Freye/Serra Zanetti in the quarterfinals. So good luck!
22nd of October, 2002: Magüi defeated Pelletier in the first round of the Seat Open this morning 6-3 4-6 6-4 and she will now face the top seed Kim Clijsters in the second round. Good luck!!
21st of October, 2002: Magüi qualified for the main draw of the Seat Open in Luxembourg, she was seeded n.1 in the qualifying draw and defeated Selima SFAR 6-2 6-2 in the first round, Maria GOLOVIZNINA 6-1 6-1 in the second round and Kveta HRDLICKOVA 3-6 6-1 7-5 in the last round of the qualifying. She now faces Marie-Eve PELLETIER (CAN) in the first round (main draw). That will be tomorrow. In the doubles draw she's playing with Boogert this week and they already moved into the quarterfinals by defeating Hopkins and Molik 6-2 6-2. Take a look at the singles and doubles draw. And good luck for tomorrow!
This has certainly been a disappointing year for Magüi, but not all is lost! There's still this tournament in Luxembourg and the Fed Cup to be played! Magüi has been selected to be part of the Spanish team, that will repeat the formation that brought home the fifth Fed Cup title: Conchita Martínez, Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario, Magüi Serna and Virginia Ruano-Pascual. Spain will face Austria in the Semifinals. The austrian team will be formed by Barbara Schett,
Patricia Wartusch, Evelyn Fauth and Sybille Bammerwill and not count with Barbara Schwartz, who I am sure everyone remembers was the hero in Austria's upset of the US team (helped by Billie Jean King's decision to kick Capriati out of the team for practicing too much!).
7th of October, 2002: Well, Magüi lost in the second round of the qualifying to Maja Matevzic in a tight three setter: 3-6 6-3 6-2. And although she had entered the dubs competition playing with Tu, apparently they decided to withdraw, in order to be better prepared for their next tourney: Bratislava... there's no english version available, and nope, I don't understand a thing either! lol - but maybe some of you do!
5th of October, 2002: Magüi is playing the qualifying at Filderstadt this week. She already moved into the second round defeating Henrieta Nagyova 7-6 7-5. Now Magüi plays the winner of the match between Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian and Maja Matevzic, a tough opponent in any case, but Magüi can win this one! You can check the qualifying draw here. Let's hope Magüi can make it to the main draw!! Good luck!
3rd of October, 2002: Well, Magüi lost today to Lindsay Davenport 6-4 6-3, but still a good tourney for Magüi, with four wins in a row! she also lost in the doubles to Bovina/Dechy 4-6 6-2 6-1, so she can now head for Filderstadt, where she'll be playing the qualifying, good luck Magüi!
2nd of October, 2002: Magüi defeated Paola Suárez!!! she beat her 6-2 2-6 6-2! great victory for Magüi!!! She now faces Lindsay Davenport [2] for a place in the quarterfinal, that's a very tough match, but Magüi has done really great in Moscow, so we'll keep our fingers crossed!
In the dubs, Magüi and Rita defeated de Villiers/Selyutina 6/7 6/4 6/3 and now they face Bovina/Dechy in the quarters, so good luck!
1st of October, 2002: a very short report from someone who saw Magüi's last qualifying match and a small pic by Nina too: "Serna vs Henke (Magui won 6-2 6-3): Magui was great to watch, I've seen her on TV before but it's much more interesting live, I esp loved her drop shots, it's absolutely impossible to read them, she was in control of the match, Vanessa did win a good game at 5-2" - Nina (WTAworld.com).
