MIDLAND -- For three hours Wednesday, Stadium Court at the $100,000 Dow Corning Tennis Classic provided fans in America's "Best Tennis Town" with a glimpse of the future. The first round baseline battle between 17 year-olds Heather Watson and Beatrice Capra (Ellicot City, MD) boasted everything from broken strings to broken serves, a break point ace to a match point double fault. There was top spin so heavy that one shot hit the roof to forehands so flat that the net cord seemingly ducked for cover.
Their prior meeting went Watson’s favor, 6-7, 7-6, 7-5 at a 2008 ITF Junior Circuit event, and nearly nothing separated them in the rematch. In the end, the dynamic defense of the American qualifier Capra prevailed over the attacking offense of the British wild card Watson, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.
"I always try to get one more ball in play and make them play because I know that when they’re nervous, the last thing they want to do is hit another ball,” Capra said. “So I knew that if I could just keep it up, I would get it in the end.”
Though she dropped the opening set, Capra set the tone of the match early with her quick feet: scrambling in the fourth game to retrieve a drop shot, backpedaling for a backhand overhead, and then retreating for a forehand half-volley that finally drew an error from Watson.
But the American couldn’t convert three break points in the following game, which would come back to haunt her when she netted a backhand while trailing 4-5, 30-40 to concede the only break of the first set.
Watson couldn’t build on her momentum, failing to earn a single break point in the second set.
Even at one set all, the teens gave all they had in a grueling 73-minute decider. After combining for three breaks in the first two sets, Watson and Capra exchanged seven breaks in the third. The only thing higher than the tension was the top spin.
Watson struck first to take a 2-0 lead, before Capra clawed her way to five of the next six games. When the American served for the match at 5-4, the tussle only grew tighter.
Capra nearly clinched the win on her first match point, but a forehand from Watson somehow slithered over the net, catching the American out of position. When she earned a second match point, Capra was helpless as the Brit belted a down-the-line forehand in midair. After making all of her second serves in her first 13 service games, Capra hit her first double fault on match point No. 3.
For six deuces they hustled back and forth along the baseline – Capra saving one break point with an ace out wide – until Watson evened the third set at 5-5 on her fourth break point of the game.
“When I was up with those match points, I don’t think I’ve ever been so tight in my life,” said Capra. “We both wanted to win so badly that we were so nervous, and we couldn’t hold our serves as easily.”
As had been the theme of the match, nothing came simple for either player, especially with Watson serving at 5-5, 30-40, in the final set. With a second chance to serve for the match on the line, Capra broke her strings early in the rally, yet miraculously chipped 16 more shots into the court. Watson was content waiting for Capra to make a mistake, but the American never did, charging the net to put a backhand volley out of Watson’s reach.
“My coach and I were just saying, “If you didn’t break your strings, I would have probably choked that point because I was so nervous,’” the candid Capra said. “I was just trying to keep it in play because I know that when somebody breaks a string against me, I get really nervous. It’s like you have to win the point. Finally, instead of pushing it back, I decided to come in and I hit that volley and I was like, “Oh my God!” That was interesting.”
Perhaps frustrated at her lack of aggression in the preceding game, Watson saved a fourth match point when she smacked a rapid return right at Capra. And when a forehand from the Brit clipped the tape and stayed in play on match point No. 5, luck looked to be back on Watson’s side.
But Capra handled the let cord and crushed an inside-out forehand to draw one final error, shouting, “Come on,” after knocking off the 2009 US Open junior champion.
“In the first set, she played really well. The second set, I played really well. And the third set: It was intense,” said Capra. “We were just battling it out. When she came out strong and got up 2-0, from experience – I’ve come back before – I kept it together.”
Other Americans advancing Wednesday were 1997 NCAA champ Lilia Osterloh (Aliso Viejo, Calif.), four-time Midland finalist Laura Granville (Chicago) and 19-year-old Madison Brengle, who – like Capra – rallied from one set down against a former US Open junior champion. Brengle (Dover, Del.) overcame a disappointing end to the first set to defeat 2007 US Open winner Kristina Kucova, 6-7 (2-7), 6-1, 6-2.
Vania King (Long Beach, Calif.), the top-ranked American in town this week, could not capitalize on a jet-legged opponent.
The odds were stacked against Marta Domachowska of Poland heading into her 10 a.m. tilt against King. She arrived in Midland during Tuesday’s snow storm from Bydgoszcz, Poland, where she lost a pair of Fed Cup matches while representing her country.
Then, Domachowska drew the second-seeded King in the first round, with the American coming to Michigan on three weeks’ rest.
But watching Domachowska flatten her forehands and rip her returns against the American, you wouldn’t have believed any of that to be true. The Warsaw woman won 10 of the first 11 games, and then withstood a late surge from King to earn a 6-1, 7-5 win.
“When I saw the draw, I was not that happy,” said Domachowska. “For the first round, it’s a very difficult draw to play against her. She’s a great player. We’ve played only doubles against each other, but we’ve practiced a few times, so I knew it was going to be tough. So I’m double happy.”
Both Domachowska and King have cracked the Top 50 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, but it wasn’t until the latter stages of their match that they appeared to be on equal ground.
King led 40-Love in her opening service game before Domachowska reeled off eight straight points. The former world No. 37 broke King for the second time by brushing the baseline with a forehand return, producing a short ball that she crushed for a crosscourt backhand winner.
“I was feeling comfortable,” said Domachowska. “I had a lot of time on her serve, to make her move. She had to play most of the time at the back of the court, defensively… so I think this was the key.”
The second set started with a similar storyline: Domachowska protecting her serve with an ace to take a 3-0 lead, and then punishing King’s serve with gargantuan groundstrokes for an insurance break.
Down 1-6, 0-4, the 5’5” American battled back to even the second set, outlasting Domachowska in the rallies that the Polish player dominated so effortlessly earlier in the match. King even began reading Domachowska’s serve better, saving a match point in the ninth game of the set by retrieving a well-struck first serve down the T.
“I saw that she started to get used to my game,” said Domachowska. “She didn’t miss – I think – one ball. I lost my concentration for a few games and then it started to get difficult. So I’m happy I made it because at that moment, she was playing really good.”
After Domachowska held for 6-5, she won the first two points on King’s serve thanks to errors by the American. At Love-30, Domachowska rocked a crosscourt forehand return, setting up a shallow reply that she struck for an inside-out forehand winner.
Though King saved two more match points, her backhand error at 30-40 handed Domachowska the upset win.
So how did Domachowska adjust to the fast courts of the Midland Community Tennis Center so quickly? By playing on an even quicker surface in Fed Cup.
“We played on something similar to grass,” said Domachowska. “The balls were going much faster and the bounce was really low. So here I was feeling like I was really fast, because it was slower than there. I had a lot of time.”
Domachowska’s transition from Fed Cup play to the Midland winner’s circle was not unprecedented Wednesday. Lucie Hradecka, the No. 1 seed and defending Midland champion, led the Czech Republic into the World Group semifinals by winning a pair of matches against Germany Sunday. She opened her Dow Corning title defense with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Ksenia Lykina of Russia.
Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong of Great Britain, Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden and Arantxa Rus of The Netherlands each won first round matches after competing in Portugal last week as part of the Fed Cup’s Europe/Africa Zone round robin. On Wednesday, Rus needed six match points in the second-set tiebreak to oust former world No. 7 Nicole Vaidisova, 6-4, 7-6 (12-10).
Vaidisova struggled with her timing and showed her frustration after several unforced errors, suffering her 11th loss in her last 14 matches.
Daytime action at the Dow Corning Tennis Classic Thursday begins at 10 a.m. with the two-time champion Granville taking on Anna Tatishvili of Georgia. The top-seeded Hradecka follows against Canadian Valerie Tetreault, and then returns in the afternoon to team with Granville against Monique Adamczak and Megan Moulton-Levy.
On Court 5, Americans Osterloh and Brengle will look to reach the singles quarterfinals against Domachowska and Rebecca Marino respectively.
Capra the qualifier is seeking her fifth win in as many days on Court 3 against Rus.
Thursday’s feature night session will deliver a double-dose of Eleni Daniilidou. The crowd favorite and 2009 singles runner-up will play Great Britain’s Anne Keothavong, take a short breather, and then team with Jasmin Woehr against Brengle and Jamie Hampton.
Admission to the Dow Corning Tennis Classic is free until the 7 p.m. feature session. General admission tickets to see Daniilidou vs. Keothavong and Daniilidou/Woehr vs. Brengle/Hampton cost $12 for adults and $8 for children.