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A Tribute To A Living Legend - Page 8

© Michael Cecilio

But Los Angeles also belonged to a French woman. Not 3rd seeded Mary Pierce nor 8th seed Sandrine Testud, but unseeded Julie Halard-Decugis. Julie has had a tough time dealing with a tantamount of injuries in her career and it is nice to see her back even better than she was. She has reached a career high #11 in the WTA rankings this year, with upsets over Steffi Graf and Nathalie Tauziat this year. She can now add two more scalps to her list in Mary Pierce and Lindsay Davenport. Two of the hardest hitters on the tour had no answers to the consistent ground game from the French veteran, both falling victim to their own wrongdoings. Mary lost her match by hitting too many unforced errors, and Lindsay did exactly the same thing in her match in the following round. What I found surprising was that Lindsay had a 5-2 lead in the second set but squandered the next five games to lose the match. This may have been characteristic of the Lindsay Davenport circa 1997, but the Lindsay Davenport circa 1999 does not usually choke when given huge leads. Things for Davenport to watch in the next few weeks before the US Open are her focus and match toughness and her unforced error count - usually things she does not ever need to work on.

PLAYER & COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE FORTNIGHT: Martina HINGIS (SUI)
It's a little weird talking about an 18 year old as a "comeback" player, but in light of what has happened to her, and the intrigue surrounding her return to the tour after a six week layoff, I think that she deserves this crown for this fortnight. Martina has silenced the critics who believed that the devastating French Open loss signaled the end of her career. Not so, says Martina. She is back with a vengeance, winning the title in San Diego by crushing Venus Williams in the final. She had a tougher time at the tournament in Los Angeles, losing to Serena Williams in the semi finals. However, in the process, she regained the #1 ranking and is looking sharper match upon match. Martina Hingis is back!

SURPRISE PLAYER OF THE FORTNIGHT: Julie HALARD-DECUGIS (FRA)
She had a dream run in Los Angeles. Known as one of the best shotmakers on the WTA tour, Julie has been hampered with injuries and inconsistency for a lot of her career. She posted two upsets en route to the final, defeating Mary Pierce in the quarter finals, and achieving the biggest scalp of her career by upsetting 2nd ranked Lindsay Davenport in the semi finals.

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