From: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles Lin)
Subject: US Open -- Monday comments, spoilers
Originator: clin@modulation.eng.umd.edu
Organization: College of Engineering, Maryversity von Uniland, College Park
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 23:51:13 GMT



   Well, I saw Courier play O'Brien last night.  While it may have been 
(was it?) the first professional meeting between the two, they have
met as juniors.   Alex O'Brien used to play number one on the 
Stanford team.   He is basically a baseliner, but due to his
doubles experience playing at Stanford University,  he also
has a pretty decent volley.   He has no flashy overpowering
shot, but has strong groundstrokes, and a reasonably strong backhand.
His two handed backhand is also pretty solid.

   The match started with Courier making lots of unforced errors.
He had problems keeping the ball in.  O'Brien won this set 6-4.
Courier, then cut down on his errors in the second as O'Brien's
errors went up.   Courier broke twice to win the second set
6-1.  He again broke to win the third set, 6-3.   Just when
it looked like O'Brien might fold under the pressure of playing
number one, he was able to break early and hold a 4-3 lead, but
was broken back.  Courier led 5-4, but O'Brien won the game and
tied it 5-all, eventually forcing a tiebreaker.   There, Courier
ran to a 6-2 lead, before O'Brien came back with four straight
points, before Courier closed out with an ace.

    Hopefully, that wasn't too incorrect.   Basically, Courier
is still not playing well.   This is not to say O'Brien played
poorly.   My feeling is that O'Brien could actually fare pretty
well on the tour (he already has a tournament win in San Francisco,
but has also apparently lost quite a few other matches in early
rounds).   Having played Courier when they were younger may have
helped with nerves.   His father was interviewed (seemed to
be very happy every time they showed him) and said Alex was
really nervous before the match, though it really didn't show.
Courier, after the match, said that O'Brien was "feisty" and
that pretty much characterizes his play.  He was able to keep
up with Courier on most of the groundstrokes.  Courier only
had an advantage when he went for winners.   O'Brien partly
nullified that by coming into net before Courier wound
up for a big shot.

   My basic impression is that Courier has to make sure he
can still hit the big shots.  Early on, I was getting the impression
that if he kept rallying with O'Brien, he might have lost.
Fortunately for Courier, he does have a big forehand.

   Also, on a side note, I kept on thinking that Alex O'Brien
looked somewhat familiar (yes, he was in a recent Tennis magazine)
and now I recall who he reminds me of.  The guy who played
Cameron in Ferris Buehller's Day Off (Ferris's friend).  

   For the other night match, they showed Graf vs. Halle Cioffi.
Personally, I've heard of Cioffi since she used to go to a
nearby high school, and she used to beat up on most of the
girls in area high schools.  Their team would only lose since
the other members of the team were nowhere as strong as she
was.  Her younger sister also played for that high school.

    However, being a number one player in Tennessee is not
the same as being a former number one in the world.   This
was a total mismatch.  Steffi serves harder, moves faster,
hits harder, and does everything better than Cioffi.  She
ran off with the first 11 points of the match, and when Cioffi
finally won a point (Graf was attempting a topspin backhand and
hit long),  the audience cheered.  It brought out a smile
from Cioffi.   I don't even think Cioffi was so nervous.
She actually seemed angry at various line calls.

   However, she was no match for Steffi.  Cioffi hits only
about a 60 mile per hour serve (on both first and second
serves) and Steffi can tee off on that.  Cioffi doesn't
have the kind of speed to compensate for a weak serve.
She finally won a game after Steffi ran to a 5-0 lead.
She also broke Steffi as Steffi's concentration laspsed
and made a few errors while Cioffi was able to hit
a few groundies back.  However, Graf broke back to win.
Final score: 6-2, 6-0.

   There was no upsets on the first day of play, though
Mary Joe Fernandez went three sets before winning her match.

   By the way, in the OTB Championships held last week,
I forgot the finalist who played Wayne Ferreira.  His
name was Jamie Morgan out of Australia.  Ferreira won
in three sets losing the second in a tiebreaker.  Thomas
Muster won the Croatian Open and donated his prize money 
to relief efforts in Croatia.

--
Charles Lin
clin@eng.umd.edu

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