The Ordina Open Third Day, Kids Day, Noisy day.


By Etienne Stekelenburg
June 20 2002

Day three of the Ordina tournament was declared Kids Day. Lots of events were organised to keep the kids busy and involved with tennis.

Downside of this event was that when the umpire asked to shut down the mobile phones, he was hardly audible due to the very loud ringmaster who accompanied the kids in all sorts of games. Kids day turned out to be a very noisy day.

Miriam Oremans, the 29 years Dutch veteran on the tour, announced she had played her last match in Rosmalen. Her lost match against Magdalena Maleeva showed she is over her peak and that it is time to pack it in. Unlike the score is suggesting there was a big difference between Oremans and Maleeva today. In the first set Oremans could hold on and had her chances but failed to score the big points. In the second set Maleeva showed to be the better player and winning the match 7-6 7-5.

Nr. 3 seed Amelie Mauresmo (France) had to face Katarina Srebotnik
(Slovenia) in her second round match. Srebotnik turned out to be easy meat; she was outclassed by the driving passing shots produced by the Frenchwoman.

In the second set Srebotnik was allowed only 15 points in total including
five winners and two double faults by Mauresmo. The match ended, with a
beautiful ace, in 6-2 6-1 and Mauresmo is through to the next round where
she will meet Eleni Daniilidou from Greece.

Daniilidou, who is rising in the ranking, had to play against sixth seed
Christina Torrens Vallero from Spain. Much to her own pleasure and surprise, as it seemed, Torrens Vallero didn't put up a fight as expected. Eleni Daniilidou played a good match with great winners and showed her fighting spirit. She won the match easy 6-2 6-2, Mauresmo will be a different kind of opponent to beat. The Greek player will have to be more aggressive and quicker when she is going to take on Mauresmo in the next round.

Elena Dementieva the nr. 4 seed from Russia won her match against Bianka
Lamada from Germany. Dementieva, who could very well be a candidate for the final, only had problems in the second set after winning the first set 6-4. To end the first set, Elena Dementieva got herself in trouble by serving
five double faults and three unforced errors. Lamada did not have the power to take advantage of Dementieva's errors and let the Russian finish the set after all.

In the second set Dementieva started where she had left the first set,
producing too many unforced errors. This time Bianka Lamada did not let go the opportunity to win the set. Dementieva was forced into errors and saw some winners passing her down the line and was trailing 4-0 when she managed to break back to make it 4-1. From that point both players held their serve
and Lamada finished the set 6-3.

In the third set Bianka Lamada never held her own serve and only produced 15 points including five winners and two double faults by Dementieva. The German girl Lamada broke Dementieva's serve once with three solid winners and forcing an error. Dementieva who was picking up the pace in the third won 6-4 3-6 6-1.

Belgian second seed Justine Henin had an easy victory over Kveta Hrdlickova from the Czech Republic. On an almost empty centre court Henin won the first set 6-1 and the second 6-4. Henin will be facing Elena Bovina from Russia who beat Martina Sucha from Slovakia. In a pretty good match to watch, where both players had good chances, Bovina won 7-5 6-3.