AFTERNOON WISPA SESSION

[The Draw]  

Top seeded defending champion Vanessa Atkinson and No. 3 seed Linda Elriani, who faced each other in last year's final, will have a rematch tomorrow night in the semis in the wake of the competitive but convincing victories each of them earned this afternoon. Elriani triumphed 10-8 2-9 9-6 9-4 over the talented Egyptian Omneya Abdel Kawy and Atkinson followed with a 9-7 10-8 9-3 win over Tania Bailey, who seemed to wilt just enough in the closing stretches of each hard-fought game (particularly the first two) to allow the indomitable and determined Atkinson to impose her will upon the action.

The keys to the first match were (1) Kawy's inability to convert any of the four game-balls she held in the opening game, which she lost on Elriani's first game-ball when she angled a severe hackhand cross-court too wickedly for a drawn-up-front Kawy to track down, and (2) her proneness to just enough lapses to prevent her from capitalizing on the often brilliant shot-making that characterizes her highly appealing game. She possesses wonderful touch and a level of creativity well beyond what her decorated veteran opponent Elriani can muster, but the latter relentlessly keeps plugging along, giving nothing away and evincing a resolve borne of her many successes in matches such as this one.

Kawy by contrast sometimes loses her focus, as when she opened the third game after a masterful second by promptly serving a lob well out of court. She was also less able than Elriani to handle the frustration both players were being forced to deal with by the half-dozen questionable officiating calls that characterized both women's afternoon quarter-finals. With Elriani serving in that closely contested third game at 7-6 after several hands-out, Kawy hit a loose backhand cross-court serve-return that Elriani buried for the forehand drop-shot winner that essentially decided that game.

By this stage of the match, and continuing through the close-out fourth game, Elriani had also recaptured her mastery of an unappreciated but invaluable aspect of her game, namely the ability to hit better cross-court lobs into the bright Grand Central Station portable-court lights than any other player, man or woman, in the entire field. This trait was especially effective in her '05 semifinal win over the higher-ranked Rachael Grinham, who was constantly forced to excavate her way out of cramped back-wall situations, and by the third game Elriani was having the same effect on Kawy that she had a year ago against Grinham.

Back in the saddle by midway through the fourth game, Elriani ran the match out from 6-4 by hitting a pair of front-court winners and accepting a Kawy tinned volley as her ticket to the first women's semi, which is scheduled for 6:00 Thursday evening with the bottom-half semifinal to take place after the two intervening men's semis have been completed.

Like Elriani immediately before her, Atkinson managed to eke out an airtight first game, helped in her case when Bailey sportily disagreed with a ruling that went in her favor and would have given her an 8-7 lead had she not overruled the referee and insisted on playing a let. This bit of sportsmanship may have cost her the game, as the next three exchanges all went to Atkinson, giving her the game at 9-7.

Bailey seems fully recovered from the serious and lingering health ailments that plagued her for several years and that forced her to default to eventual champion Carol Owens in the 2003 semis of this Tournament Of Champions event after two listless games. She now has regained her wiry strength, noteworthy retrieving skills and stamina, but she needed to win at least one of the extremely physically exacting first two games against the stylish Atkinson, who may well be the best all-around athlete on the WISPA tour.

The Dutch star ended the second game the way she had the first, i.e. by rubbing out the last three points, and there was no stopping her from there. She fell behind 3-1 in the third game by playing a few sloppy points before embarking on a surge that Bailey was unable to repulse. In going from 1-3 to 9-3 with only two hands-out, Atkinson noticeably elevated the entire pace of her game, cutting balls off more aggressively and retrieving everything early enough to respond with deadly counter-shots, especially a forehand cross-court drop when she hit so shallowly and with such width that Bailey was caught flat-footed. Deflated by Atkinson's sprint to the tape, Bailey tinned a drop shot to end the match and usher Atkinson into what should be a highly entertaining semifinal tomorrow evening.

Tourmanent of Champions, WISPA Draw
Grand Central Terminal New York
Quarterfinal results:
AFTERNOON SESSION:
[3] Linda Elriani (Eng) d [5]Omneya Abdel Kawy (Egy), 10-8 2-9 9-6 9-4;
[1] Vanessa Atkinson (Ned) d [7]Tania Bailey (Eng), 9-7 10-8 9-3.
EVENING SESSION:
[8] Madelin Perry (IRE) d [2] Vicky Botwright (ENG) 9-3 4-9 3-9 9-2 9-4