Safarova breathes, Bondarenko thrills, and Petrova knocks one out of the park

Tonight, at the Family Circle Cup, I saw Lucie Safarova play for the second time, and I was even more impressed than I was when I saw her a couple of days ago. She is a hard hitter, a quick mover, and is very focused. The most interesting thing about her is her serve. If you think Mary Pierce has a deliberate serve, wait until you see Safarova. From what I can tell, she is doing breath work with the service motion, and as she releases the breath, she releases the serve with explosive speed. She made short work of Julia Schruff, who played well, but was simply no match for Safarova's consistency and accuracy.

The hero of today--and maybe of the week, however--was Alona Bondarenko, who was involved in what turned out to be high drama on the main court this evening. Bondarenko has been playing well since she arrived in Charleston, and tonight, she played the match of her life against number 2 seed and Amelia Island champion Nadia Petrova. The strange goings-on began right away, when Petrova requested a medical break before the match began. Apparently, during the warm-up, she strained her thigh.

During the first set, Petrova played conservatively, but well enough that Bondarenko was overpowered and could barely get a foot in the door. That set went to Petrova, 6-1. The second set was from another planet, with Bondarenko playing steadily and with almost no errors, while Petrova sprayed balls out of the court, smashed them into the net, and was lucky to get her second serve in. Being Nadia Petrova, she became visibly agitated, and treated the crowd to several bashings of the racquet head onto the court. She did not appear to be struggling physically, despite the medical break, but was struggling mentally in the way we have come to expect from her now and then.

The worse Petrova played, the more confident Bondarenko became, and she increased the quality of her shots even more. The crowd went wild. There were very long rallies, with Bondarenko winning almost all of them, often by forcing the error from her opponent. And there was a bad line call in Bondarenko's favor--a ball that was clearly out was called in. By this time, the crowd was so behind Bondarenko, all they could do was get upset when Petrova questioned the call.

The chair umpire and Petrova got into it with each other, and all the while, the lineswoman who made the call never left her chair. It was a though she didn't exist. Finally, the chair umpire called her over, and they had a conference that looked like it was going to go into the next day. By this time, Petrova had had all she could take, and she picked up her racquet and hit a ball through the stands into the Charleston sky. For this she was booed, considerably and loudly. (We applauded her, I should add, because the officials were handling the matter in a ridiculous fasion.) Finally, the ball was officialy called out.

Bondarenko took the second set 6-0. Petrova disappeared from the court, and when she came back, it was a different story. For one thing, Bondarenko was flagging physically. With each shot, she grew weaker, and the errors began creeping in. At the same time, Petrova turned on the champion switch and began playing like she should have played all evening. In the end, Petrova took the match, 6-1, 0-6, 6-2. I had mixed feelings about it: I wanted Nadia to win, but by this time, we were all in love with Alona Bondarenko and her feisty resolve. When she left the court, the fans went wild. When Petrova left, they booed.

Petrova wasn't the only one who had to deal with an unexpected force. Nathalie Dechy, seeded 8th, faced young Anna Tatishvili, who burned balls down the court with both her forehand and backhand, and gave Dechy trouble from moment one of the first set. Finally, though, Dechy was able to win enough big points to take the match. I spoke with her later in the afternoon, and she said she had never heard of Tatishvili, and after a few games, was wondering "What is this?"

A lot went on today. Jill Craybas lost a close match (6-4, 7-6) against Mara Santangelo, and also lost her doubles match (with partner Laura Granville), to the disappointment of her many fans. Julia Vakulenko drove through Antonella Serra Zenetti like a freight train (6-1, 6-2), and Ashley Harkleroad and Galina Voskoboeva defeated Corina Morariu and Rennae Stubbs, 6-1, 6-2.