Date: 3/9/2011
Result: Indian Wells R1, Alize Cornet (Q) d. Patty Schnyder 6-1 6-4
Why it matters:
- Can it really be 13 years since Schnyder had her breakout season in 1998, winning 5 Tour titles (none higher than a Tier II)? Schnyder has always had a funky and quirky game, and I think it's provided a good bit of variety to the tour, especially in the last few years. However, I think her style is deceptively based on top-level fitness, which allows her to dictate rallies with her loopy strokes. Not so deceptive has been the Swiss player's wavering motivations on tour. Who can forget her famous orange juice period? But just as often as she seems to not care, she also plays with utter conviction and passion, as if she has a personal grudge against her opponent (sometimes she does). If Schnyder can find that fire, her game is complicated enough, especially on clay, that there's no reason she can't trouble some of the up-and-comers, as well as top players, like when she beat Clijsters soon after Kim's '09 US Open win. Look for her in Charleston and the rest of the clay events this spring. If she's losing consistently to beatable competition, it might be time for Patty to throw in the towel for good. And a 1 and 4 loss to someone of Cornet's current level is not a great indication.
- We shouldn't forget the winner of this match, Alize Cornet, who is mounting a sort of comeback after a pretty severe mental collapse in the last 2 years or so. She reached #11 in the world in Feb. 2009, soon after almost taking out Dinara Safina at the Australian Open in the third round. Since that loss, she's gone 51-59, including a disastrous 15-26 in the rest of 2009, including several more heartbreaking losses in Fed Cup, where Cornet really seems to feel the pressure of playing for her country. Cornet's game is alright. She doesn't have any amazingly flashy weapons, imposing power, or breathtaking quickness. However, her overall game, at least in 2008 and against Safina, seemed to be greater than the sum of its parts. It will be interesting to see if Cornet can put it all back together. I doubt she'll get back to #11, but why not the firmly in the top 50?
Honorable Mentions:
- Indian Wells R1, Gisela Dulko def. Vania King - 26 63 62 - #1 in Doubles Dulko trying to revive her singles ranking which has dropped significantly, while local girl King continues to stumble. It feels like she's older than 22, but she's looking more and more like she'll become a doubles specialist only if she doesn't get her act together soon.
-Indian Wells R1, Melanie Oudin def. Elena Vesnina - 76 62 - Can Oudin only beat Russians on home soil? Melanie's sophomore slump in 2010 after a breakout 2009 was pretty severe. She needs to feed off the home crowd to get her mojo back.
- Indian Wells R1, Sara Errani def. Greta Arn - 66 ret. - Arn's been on fire this year, but given the length of the injury timeout for this knee injury, will her momentum be stopped? She has semifinal points to defend from the now defunct Premier Warsaw in May, we'll see if she's fit to try.
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