Top seeds making quick work of opponents - 網球

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Top seeds making quick work of opponents
By Greg Garber ESPN.com

WIMBLEDON, England -- Justine Henin-Hardenne was serving for the first set
against Anna Chakvetadze on Friday, hurtling toward another sub-30-minute
frame, when chair umpire Roland Herfel interjected, "Stop! Stop! Stop!"

A ball girl, feeling the extreme heat of the day, had swooned on the
baseline. It took several minutes to hydrate her and administer medical
attention.

It was the only thing that effectively slowed Henin-Hardenne. Chakvetadze is
a formidable player seeded No. 30 and ranked No. 34 in the world. Yet
Henin-Hardenne swept her aside, 6-2, 6-3, in a tidy 66 minutes.

For the record, Henin-Hardenne is 19-0 in Grand Slam third-round matches, a
tribute to her focus and resolve -- and the precipitous plunge in talent past
the top handful of players.

There is almost always an air of predictability in the early rounds of a
Grand Slam, particularly on the women's side. The top seeds play against
qualifiers and players with rankings 100 places below their own. But this
year at Wimbledon, the disparity has been enormous.

No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo, No. 2 Kim Clijsters, No. 3 Henin-Hardenne and No. 4
Maria Sharapova have positively throttled the opposition, failing to lose a
set in their collective first 10 matches -- 10 because Henin-Hardenne and
Clijsters are already through to the fourth round.

"Here in Wimbledon, it looks like this year it's a bit better for the top
seeds in the first week, so it's good," Henin-Hardenne said. "We can see
there is a lot of concurrence. It's great to see the top players in the
second week."

If you are Henin-Hardenne, anyway.

In their first-round matches, the top four seeds won in a total elapsed time
of 3 hours and 55 minutes. By comparison, the first-round match between
Stefano Galvani and Alexander Waske, won by Galvani 16-14 in the fifth set,
consumed 4 hours and 57 minutes. Two other first-round men's matches were
decided by an 11-9 ultimate set.

Through 10 matches, the average time of the top four's matches, including
Clijsters' walkover, is just over 55 minutes. The depth in women's tennis
might have improved, but the gap between the elite players and the rest of
the field seems to be widening.

Mauresmo and Sharapova, who will play their third-round matches Saturday,
both lost only six games in their first four sets.

With equal pay for women the hot-button topic at Wimbledon this fortnight,
the blowouts come at an awkward time. And it is exacerbated by some wild and
rollicking men's matches. No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal lost the first two sets of
his second-round match before rallying to win; No. 5 seed Ivan Ljubicic went
the distance in his first-round match; and former champion Lleyton Hewitt was
extended to five sets by Hyung-Taik Lee in a match that ran 3 hours and 56
minutes.

Pam Shriver, an ESPN analyst and winner of 21 singles titles, isn't buying it.

"Women are held to a different standard," Shriver said. "When those blowouts
come in the early rounds, the critics come down on them. If we get a few
more, the critics will jump -- especially in this year when everyone is
talking about equal prize money.

"But that's not the point. We don't punch a clock; we don't get paid by the
game or set. When you have the same job, then anything less than equality is
just wrong."

Shriver, who won five doubles titles in six years here (1981-86) with Martina
Navratilova, makes a persuasive counterargument.

"Justine Henin-Hardenne lost here in the first round last year," Shriver
said. "Which side is more in doubt this year, women or men? The most
predictable thing in tennis is Roger Federer on grass. Is anybody complaining
about his quick matches? It's like that with Justine, too. When she plays
well, it's beautiful to watch. Women's top four seeds

"Stop picking on the women."


Said Henin-Hardenne, "We saw Grand Slams recently where it was tough for the
top seeds to have easy matches in the first week. I think it has changed a
little bit in the last few years. It was probably much more easier in the
past than now.

"I don't know what people prefer, if it's to see surprises or if it's to see
all the favorites. It depends on the person."

Put Henin-Hardenne and fellow Belgian Clijsters in the pro-seed category.

Clijsters had to wait the better part of the day to get onto Court 2 for her
match with Jie Zheng because Radek Stepanek needed 4 hours and 2 minutes to
complete his victory over Juan Carlos Ferrero in a five-set match that ended
11-9.

Then Clijsters came out and, among the advancing shadows, eliminated Zheng
6-3, 6-2. It took all of 71 minutes.

"She's a tough player," Clijsters said. "She's a counterpuncher, so I needed
to move her from side to side. I felt I played a good match."

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com

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這篇討論女子大種子前幾輪都可輕鬆過關
牽扯到比賽精彩度跟獎金同酬的問題
引述很多Henin的例子或對話 不妨看看囉

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