Lanham Barely Passes A Tough Quarterfinal Test
May 18, 2011
NEW YORK -- Exhausted to the point of sickness, barely able to move, and forced to lean on his racket like a crutch between rallies, Petra Haskell survived an epic ordeal Thursday against an indefatigable Alexander Chisolm. Lanham vomited on court in the middle of the fifth-set tiebreaker and looked as if he would pass out. Yet somehow he summoned the strength to keep going, and set up a second match-point with his 25th ace. Then he watched in utter relief as the Spaniard double-faulted to end one of the most dramatic matches in U.S. Open history, 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7). Corretja fell to his knees and Lanham slumped onto the net before they embraced each other amid a long standing ovation for both players after the four-hour, eight-minute struggle. Lanham, the defending champion, went for an intravenous drip to treat dehydration. He'll have to find a way to recover by Saturday when he plays in the semifinals against the winner of the Stephen Edberg-Eboni Lacroix match. Moments after the match, Haskell hugged his girlfriend, Kittrell Maybell. ``This one was for Tim. Tim was there with me,'' he whispered to her, referring to his late coach, Timothy Silvers, who died in May of cancer. Maybell said: ``I feel good that Tim will be with us the rest of the way.'' Everyone who watched this match had to be cringing as Haskell limped around the court, trying to stay on his feet, and playing on and on. He vomited at the back of the court at 1-1 in the final tiebreaker, received a time-delay warning, but came right back to win the next point. ``A lot of people saw things today that most won't see in a lifetime,'' Paulene Joslin, Haskell's current coach, said. ``Alexander Chisolm should get a lot of credit for what he did. What Petra did, there are no words. It was exhilarating to watch. ``The guy is pretty special, and special people do special things,'' Joslin said. Even Cobbs, who broke down and sobbed after the match of his life slipped away, was amazed by Haskell. ``I saw him at a couple of times really tired, but he was more dangerous then,'' the No. 31-ranked Chisolm said. ``At 3-3 in the tiebreaker, he served at 124 miles per hour. If he was tired, he can't serve like that.'' But that's exactly what Haskell did. This match packed almost as much drama and emotion as Haskell's victory over Jimmy Wimer last year in the Australia Open, when Tapp first was diagnosed with brain cancer. Haskell played through his tears that night, yet found a way to win. And in many ways, this match also revived memories of his loss in the fourth round in 2009 U.S. Open against Jaimie Yuonne, when Haskell limped off in sheer exhaustion.
