Wednesday, August 9, 2006-Day Four

The top two seeds fell today and the biggest surprise to me was that those weren't even matches I chose as ones to watch!

Although I hadn't planned to catch what I expected to be fairly easy matches for the top seeds, I couldn't help being drawn back and forth to the matches. I certainly underestimated seventeenth seeded Maria Sanchez as she took out No. 2 Julia Cohen with clear determination. (Julia did get revenge later on as she and Mary teamed up to defeat Maria Sanchez & Lyndsay Kinstler in doubles, 7-5,6-3.) It was a similar situation one Court over, though certainly more of a struggle, as Melanie Oudin eliminated the top-seeded professional player Mary Gambale. I had seen -- and been impressed with -- Melanie previously, however, her results this year didn't seem strong enough to see her as a threat. I was certainly wrong on that one.

I did get to watch most of another great match -- sixteenth-seed Kirsten Flower vs. unseeded Hilary Barte. The first set was certainly a battle until the end when Hilary took set point during a questionable linecall. A referee was called in, but he wouldn't overrule, and Kirsten just couldn't get past the 7-5 loss in the first set. There were some good points in the second set, though they didn't match the first and the seed dropped 6-2.

It was a match-up of two seeds and the higher prevailed as Kimberly Couts (12) and McCall Jones (17-32) went at it. Despite a 6-3,6-1 score for Kim, it was a great match. I've known Kim for years and though our paths hadn't crossed at tournaments the last few months, I had been watching her results. It was clear where those results came from as the 17 year old Floridian hit net winners and kept the match in her court.

Another player I hadn't seen in a long time until today was Alexandra Mueller. The eighteen year old had turned professional two years ago and had been plagued by wrist injuries which kept her from constant tour play. She certainly proved today that she still has it as the No. 6 seed just kept hitting past No. 17 Shinnan Featherston. There were long points and winners as Shinann tried to run the Pennsylvania native around the court, but Alexandra just came back with two more for every one Shinann hit. It was another struggle in the twilight (with better results) for the sixteen year old as she teamed with Lindsay Clark to squeak out a win in a great doubles match over Holly Johnson & Chelsea Preeg.

We're almost into the quarters and it's not going to be easy for anyone to get through this crowd. There are three unseeded players left -- Cristala Andrews, Hilary Barte and Carolyn McVeigh -- let's see if they can make it through another day.

Above from top: Tournament Director Jennifer Pitzen addresses local kids during Kid's Day at the Nationals; Hilary Barte

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