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Liberty Bell Open
2007
16 - 21 Jan,
Berwyn, Philadelphia, USA, $7k |
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21-Jan,
Final:
[1] Manuela Manetta (Ita) bt [3] Alana Miller (Can) 9/5,
2/9, 9/4, 9/0 |
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21-Jan-07:
Maiden
title for Manuela
Ray Chan-a-Sue reports from
Berwyn
 Manuela
Manetta beat Alana Miller three games to one to win her first WISPA
title. All weekend she has played very impressively catching opponents
with her touch at the front court and also her retrieving ability
which even when trouble bailed her out and made her opponent hit
another ball. The only glitch this weekend was the gash she received
when she fell into the wall. Even that was quickly glued (no
stitches…..just glued!!) and she was ready for action the next day.
 Miller
had to be at her best today to deny the Italian. She came out in the
first game using the same strategy she has used all weekend, namely to
dominate the T by volleying and using her drop game to move her
opponent. After losing the first game in which she lost at six, Miller
came out in the second determined to get back into the match and
capitalized on some Manetta mistakes and also making good decisions
catching her opponent out of position. After two relatively quick
games, we were back on even terms and both players came out playing
length with the odd boast off the serve.
For the first eight points it was back and forth as each person pulled
ahead only for the other person to tie and at four all it was turning
out to be a battle of attrition. Manetta at this point began to
demonstrate her retrieving ability in which she extended rallies that
look like sure winners. This appeared to tire Miller as from that
point on she attempted to end the rally early on with drops only to
see Manetta counter drop. Manetta was also starting to dictate the
play with her tight drives and timely use of the x-court. Game four
began promising with exchanges of serves but from that point on
Manetta was in command and anything Miller tried ended in a tin.
Match over, nine love to give the Italian her very first WISPA title,
which brought a raise of the arms and a big smile. Very good results
for both players and a great way to start the New Year, they will be
looking to continue their success at Dayton on Tuesday (no rest for
the weary).
Congrats should go out to Dominic Hughes, the tournament director for
running another successful tourney and to his major sponsor UBS for
their support of this wonderful event. Amy Milanek also deserves
praise, as she not only the tournament referee but also the actual
referee from the quarter finals onwards. A task not always easy when
dealing with professional players.
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Semi-Finals:
Today’s semi-finals saw a similar scenario, veterans against up and
coming young stars with a lot of junior success. Don’t get out the
walking stick quite yet, as the veterans we are speaking of are twenty
six year olds Alana Miller (Canada) and Manuela Manetta (Italy)
playing Tenille Swartz (South Africa) and Joshna Chinappa (India)
respectively.
Manetta and Chinappa were first on with the Italian instantly
establishing her length and retrieving all of Chinappa’s shots, which
involved a lot of tough drops as well as a few testing x-courts. This
caused the Indian to try to make her shots even tighter and invariably
made the error.
Not to take anything away from Manetta as also a few delicate counter
drops of her own. With Manatta running away with the first two games
and Chinappa looking disinterested (I am told this is her normal court
demeanor), surely the third game was just a formality. Not to be, in
the third, Chinappa came out playing a much patient game, hitting deep
and waiting for the point to develop as opposed to risking low
percentage shots.
Manetta seem to relax also and made a few unforced errors of her own
and this allowed Chinappa to run away with game three and a tight
match. In the fourth game Manetta came out and regained her length and
with this immediately added pressure to Chinappa and forced a number
of errors from her.
One last stand by Chinappa to bring the score to 4-6 only to hit a
crucial tin and Manetta finished it off from that point.
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The second semi final saw Alana Miller (Canada) come up against
another youngster in Tenille Swartz. Swartz had a big win the night
before over Aisling Blake in five games and it was a test to see if
she could continue her good form.
Miller after overcoming some determined opponents in the first and
quarter final rounds, looking to advance to her third WISPA final.
From Game one Miller was aggressive, hitting the ball with pace to all
corners and using her height to volley so that she stayed in front of
Swartz. The combination gave Miller the first game running away as she
was firing on all cylinders.
In the second game, you knew that the South African was not going to
lie down, and she didn’t, she started to find her length and some of
the brilliant shots she is noted for started to work and put Miller
under pressure. Miller also made some errors off the return of serves
going for outright winners which had worked so well in the first game.
Swartz finished off the game at two and we were all square.
At this point the crowd was waiting to see if its favourite would run
away with the match, however Miller got back to her game plan from the
first game and volley dropping and angles on anything remotely loose
she move to six-two only to have Swartz creep back to five but closed
the game out after getting a tiring Swartz to hit out.
Miller could see that she had Swartz on the ropes and she continued
with the same game plan and caught Swartz just a step slow which gave
Miller easy kills. After some nervous moments at 6 and 7, Miller won
the game and match on one of her many tight drops. |
20-Jan-07:
Liberty Bell
Quarters
Ray Chan-a-Sue reports from
Berwyn
The
bottom half of the draw was the last two quarter-finals on court,
which just happened to be the last two matches I was able to catch
after battling Philly traffic for an hour which is about 30minutes
longer than normal.
After arriving I found out that the number one seed Manuela
Manetta of Italy had advanced with a three love win over
Lauren Siddall of England, although with a nasty gash which was
opened after slipping and crashing into the front left wall head
first (update later on). Also advancing to the semis today is
Joshna Chinappa of India who also won in straight games over
Georgina Stoker. |
Manetta
Russell
Miller
Swartz
Blake |
Canadian Champion Challenge
The next match on was a match up of Canadian National champions
both former and current, in Alana Miller and Carolyn
Russell respectively. Miller, tall and possessing a nice
balance of power and finesse and Russell, fit as a fiddle (helps
when you ride a bicycle to every point in Vancouver) and feisty
competitor was sure to provide a interesting match up.
From the beginning of the match Miller dominated the “T”, using
her height and reach to make Russell run around her as well as
using a combination of volley drops and angles to catch her
opponent off guard. She also benefited from Russell’s unforced
errors at crucial points when it looked like she was getting into
the match.
The first game was the closest coming from a few loose shots from
Miller before righting the ship to win the game 9-6 and going on
to take the next two.
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Swartz storms into semis
The following match between the #2 seed from Ireland, Aisling
(ASH-LING) Blake and the young and improving
teenager from South Africa, Tenille Swartz. Swartz came
into this encounter as the 7th seed but this was largely due to
the unfortunate fact the draw was made last month. In this match
it was Blake who was counting her sorrows. It was the first time
that I have seen the young South African play and the scoop was
that she was a rabbit around the court and loved to hit the drop
from anywhere on the court. (person after my own heart).
The last time I saw Blake was in Calgary in 2004, this time she
looked a lot fitter along with an equally impressive game and
poise. From the outset it looked as though Blake’s plan was the
make Swartz beat her from the back of the court, by hitting hard
and straight which a mixture of length and kills, making mince
meat of anything loose from Swartz.
The first two games saw a see saw battle where Blake would take a
lead and get to six only to have Swartz claw her way back to tie
it up with a mixture of punishing length and sweet touch. However
instead of continuing on, Swartz committed unforced errors going
for a finer shots than was necessary. Blake seized on the
opportunities given to her and was up two games to love.
The third game set up to be the same as the first two with Blake
taking a commanding lead mostly on counter attacking Swartz’s
short game and got her to match ball at 8-5. At this point all
hope looked like it was lost for Swartz, even with her never
ending energy around the court and her creatively, she was looking
at certain defeat as Blake looked pretty comfortable. At 8-5, it
was the first rally in which Swartz when back to basics and
instead of trying to do anything cute she hit length with pace and
cross courts with enough width to cause Blake to give up a juicy
boast which Swartz dispatched into the backhand front corner nick.
Suddenly the complexion of the game changed and with a few loose
points from Blake and it was 8-8 all. Swartz then finished off the
game to win 10-9. The next game saw long rallies to begin the game
with Blake now using her short game to get to five first only to
have Swartz come back to square it and then eventually taking an
8-5 lead only for Blake benefiting from some unforced errors from
Swartz brought it back to 8-8 all. Blake then won the next point
to bring up match point #3 and this seem like the end of a valiant
effort from Swartz. However, this young lady had heart, and she
used the next two rallies to work Blake, including using two
forehand working boasts which had me feeling the pain. Game four
to the Proteas.
Game five saw a good start by Blake but nothing was going to stop
Swartz, firing on all cylinders as she ran away with the game and
match 9-4. |
 Liberty
Bell Open 2007
Berwyn, Philadelphia, USA, 16 - 21 Jan, $7k |
Round One
18 Jan |
Quarters
19 Jan |
Semis
20 Jan |
Final
21 Jan |
[1] Manuela Manetta (Ita)
9/1, 9/0, 9/2
Ashley Clackson (Can) |
Manuela Manetta
9/6, 9/1, 9/3
Lauren Siddall |
Manuela
Manetta9/5, 9/2, 6/9, 9/6
Joshna
Chinappa |
Manuela
Manetta 9/5, 2/9, 9/4, 9/0
Alana
Miller |
[8] Lauren Siddall
(Eng)
9/1, 9/4, 9/5
[Q] Kristen Lange (Usa) |
[3] Joshna Chinappa (Ind)
9/4, 9/3, 9/1
[Q] Sydney Scott (Usa) |
Joshna Chinappa
9/5, 9/3, 9/7
Georgina Stoker |
[6] Georgina Stoker
(Eng)
9/3, 9/7, 9/1
[Q] Tina Rix (Eng) |
Neha Kumar (Can)
9/2, 9/2, 4/9, 9/0
[5] Carolyn Russell (Can) |
Carolyn Russell
9/6, 9/3, 9/2
Alana Miller |
Alana
Miller9/2, 5/9, 9/7, 9/6
Tenille
Swartz |
Lisa Camilleri (Aus)
9/5, 3/9, 9/5, 10/8
[4] Alana Miller (Can) |
Britt Hebden (Usa)
9/2, 9/0, 9/1
[7] Tenille Swartz (Rsa) |
Tenille Swartz
6-9, 6-9, 10-8, 10-9, 9-4
Aisling Blake |
[Q] Tara Chawla (Usa)
9/3, 9/1, 9/3
[2] Aisling Blake (Irl) |
Qualifying Finals:
Kristen Lange bt Olivia Blanchford
9/2, 9/0, 9/2
Sydney Scott bt Larissa Stephenson
4/9, 9/3, 9/1, 9/2
Tina Rix bt Radhika Ahluwalia
9/6, 9/6, 9/0
Tara Chawla bt Ileana Novelo
9/4, 9/5, 10/8
Qualification Round 1:
Olivia Blatchford (Usa)
bye
Kirsten Lange (Usa) bt Sarah Parsons (Can) 7/9 9/0
9/1 9/0
Larissa Stephenson (Nzl)
bye
Sydney Scott (Usa)
bye
Radhika Ahluwalia (Usa)
bye
Tina Rix (Eng)
bye
Tara Chawla (Usa) bt Jennifer Cranston (Can) 9/5 9/0 9/0
Ileana Novelo (Mex)
bye
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