BEIJING—At the China Open, tennis players woke up to a grey sky over Beijing. As we arrived at the venue for Day-5 (Wednesday Oct 1), the rain kept falling heavily, and it didn’t look like it would stop anytime soon. Matches at the Lotus Court, Moon Court and Brad Drewett Court were delayed.
Just in case you’re wondering about the names of the courts, well they represent a lotus flower, one of the emblems of the 2008 Summer Olympics. The National Tennis Center currently has 12 competition hard courts and 35 training courts, including 20 hard courts, 10 indoor hard courts, 2 artificial grass courts, 2 indoor clay courts, and a mini hard court. Only one court was used for today’s matches, an undercover court, the Diamond Court. The Court with a capacity of 15,000 people was filled with fans watching the matches and waiting for the rain to clear. Not today though, it was an indoor tennis day, as the rain wouldn’t stop.
The early afternoon started with Petra Kvitova, moving to the next round by winning against the last remaining Chinese, Peng Shuai, 6-4, 6-2. Coming off the win at Wuhan, Kvitova hopes her momentum can carry her to a China Open title at her fifth attempt.
“I feel well on the court. I know that I can play good tennis because of last week in Wuhan,” Kvitova said in her post match press conference in Beijing.
Caroline Wozniacki fought hard to go to a third set and stay in the match, but Samantha Stosur wouldn’t let her. Wozniaki, coming into this second round as favourite against the Australian Stosur, wasn’t able to use her biggest weapon, the ability to stay in the point for a very long time. Something was off this afternoon, and she wasn’t playing her famous ‘defensive’ game. You could blame it on the fact that she hasn’t had a match yet on those courts, as she had a Bye the first round.
Her opponent Samantha Stosur, already had a match behind her and entered the game better prepared, hitting powerful top spin shots with her forehand and not letting go. After a hard fought first set that went in Stosur’s favour, Caroline Wozniacki stepped up her game but couldn’t keep up in the long rallies with the Australian. Stosur moved her around, jumping into the shots with heavy racket speed and not making that last mistake, point after point, she hung in there. Stosur used her first match point to take the match and the set with 6-4, 7-6 (10-8) in the tiebreaker.
The 24-year old Canadian, Vasek Pospisil almost caused a sensation earlier on the center court as he played some amazing points, but Novak Djokovic, proved once again why he’s the No. 1 player in the world and undefeated in Beijing.
The biggest result Vasek Pospisil has had this year, was winning the Wimbledon doubles title against the fifteen Grand Slam Champions, the Bryan brothers. His biggest Grand Slam result was reaching the third round of the Australian Open. He entered the court quite shyly and at first it looked like the experienced Djokovic will make this a quick match, as he took the first set 6-3. In the second set though, Pospisil looked like a kid who had nothing to lose and started to hit through the balls and served excellently. The 6-foot 4-inch Canadian dropped-in 11 second set aces, including three in two separate games. For a moment, he looked like he had caught the right momentum and was playing in the zone, breaking Djokovic’s serve at three-all in the second set, and taking a 5-3 lead.
Pospisil caught the crowd and Djokovic by surprise and probably himself as well, but Djokovic wouldn’t let the set slide away. He stepped up in his game, started taking charge again and being more in control of the game, hitting inside the court and winning a few crucial points at the net. The crowd and everyone watching could feel the momentum turn and the Serb came back to win the second set with a 7-5 score. Djokovic is now in the Quarterfinals and one step closer to another China Open title.
Right around dinnertime (7.00pm), the media room got an announcement that all of the matches on the outside courts will be cancelled, due to the rain and re-scheduled for tomorrow. The players who were hanging around the tennis centre for most of the day, playing chess, cards, some even doing their school homework could finally go back to their hotel, as Maria Sharapova and Carla Suarez Navarro were warming up for their match.
Sharapova took a quick 4-0 lead in the first set by serving well and taking every ball on the rise, hitting winners from all angles. Navarro struggled to find rhythm and quickly lost the first set 6-1. The second set was a different story and a close battle ensued but Sharapova took it 7-6 (3) to win the match.
After two hours and just past midnight local Beijing time, John Isner, the 8th seed, finished his match with a win of 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 over Tommy Robredo from Spain. With his 6-foot 10-inch frame, Isner is considered one of the greatest servers in the history of tennis and is ranked 15 on the ATP tour making him currently the highest ranked American tennis player.
As I walked outside in the late hours after the last match, the rain had finally stopped. Beijing’s skyline needs clear skies in the morning as there are over twenty-six matches to be played over six courts tomorrow, starting at half past noon Beijing, China time.
Vlatka Jovanović is an ex-professional WTA ranked tennis player and an independent broadcaster journalist.
