Kim Clijsters is getting all the respect at this tournament, not that No. 2 Vera Zvonareva is without it, but given that she hasn't won a set in the two major finals she contested last summer, there are a lot of doubts about her ability to do so.
After Clijsters survived against tough Ekaterina Makarova 7-6, 6-2 to gain the Australian Open quarterfinals, the on-court interviewer called the 27-year-old mother the “crowd darling.”
The pale-faced Zvonareva didn't have the chance to receive such accolades after she advanced with a handy 6-4, 6-1 victory over Czech lefty Iveta Benesova, as she was playing in the tournament's No. 2 arena, where there are no on-court interviews after matches.
The Russian is playing cleanly, forcefully and is blending consistent serves with hard returns. Her forehand and backhand are equally good and she's a good mover.
She is not an altogether spectacular player, but she is rock solid. So why, say when the likes of fellow Russians Anastasia Myskina and Svetlana Kuznetsova were able to win majors without many more weapons then Zvonareva, has she fallen just short? Surely, part of it is mental, as she hasn't always been the epitome of grace under fire. But she says she's never been really lacking in repertoire, even if she was nowhere near the net player she is today back when she made her Grand Slam debut in 2002.
“I have all the shots in my game,” said the 26-year-old Zvonareva. “I can go crosscourt, down the line, short, deep. You name it, I can do it all. But once the ball comes, you have all those options in your head and you're like, OK, which one do I choose? Sometimes I choose all different ones, and maybe they're not the best against this opponent. So now I'm just trying to stick to what I have to do in this particular match against this particular opponent and try to really put my head into it and don't let myself make all those different choices. Even though I like to mix it up, now I'm just trying to stick to the plan.”
That sounds like the right choice, as long as she has good ones match in and match out. She is now being coached by a rookie, Sergey Demekhin, who was her junior mixed doubles partner and also was an underwear model. While Demekhin may not have the resume of some legendary coaches, he's done a very good job of keeping Zvonareva on course during the past eight months, where's she's reached the final of Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and achieved a career high No. 2 ranking. But in Russia, and in the tennis world, being No. 2 without a major is no great shakes. That's why she feels a bit disrespected.
“I hope players respect me as a player, and I respect all other players, as well,” she said “If I perform well and I win matches, I think people will respect me. There are a lot of people that always underestimated me and there are a lot of people that never believed in me and there are a lot of people that thought I never will make it to even like Grand Slam semifinals or something. The most important thing is that people around me, my team, they believe in me. And the most important thing is that I believe in myself.”
Zvonareva better have a lot of belief and a solid game plan in her next match when she faces 20-year-old Czech sensation Petra Kvitova, an incredibly powerful left-hander who has taken out Aussie favorite Sam Stosur and Italian veteran Flavia Pennetta.
Kvitova, who reached the 2010 Wimbledon semifinals, has a huge flat forehand, big serve, solid two-handed backhand and a nifty volley. It's taken her a couple of years to grow in to her tall frame, but the 25th seed says she loves to use her “leftiness,” maybe just like all-time great Martina Navratilova once did. She's not a serve and volleyer, but she can dominate matches, cracking 16 winners to zero from Stosur in the second set of their contest and against Pennetta, she nailed 46 winners and was 20 of 29 at the net.
While she has been nowhere near as consistent as fellow 20-year-old and No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, she packs more overall punch. She won Brisbane to open the year, seems more or less carefree on the court and while her win over the highly touted Stosur was front-page news, she and Zvonareva will not play the marquee quarterfinal with the much beloved Clijsters in the draw.
No, the woman once called “Aussie Kim” when she was engaged to former No.1 Lleyton Hewitt will be front and center until she leaves the tournament.
Clijsters may have trouble in the quarters against the inventive Pole Agnieszka Radwanska, who fought off two match points and bested Peng Shuai 7-5, 3-6, 7-5. Playing just her first tournament since undergoing foot surgery in October, former No. 8 Radwanska is playing as freely as ever, but it may be too much to ask the 12th seed to run past the muscular Clijsters, who is doing to everything she can to manage her emotions in her quest to win her first major away from the U.S. Open.
“We're taking this as a big adventure and I never thought it would go so well so soon,” said Clijsters of her team and family. All I have to do is be just a little better.”
