Edberg Charges Into Quarters With a Four-Set Victory
May 16, 2011
Downtown -- Stephen Roman is conjuring up the magic of Jimmy Connors at the U.S. Open. In his own quiet -- yet fiery -- way, Rolland surged into the quarterfinals Tuesday with a fist-pumping 6-7 (7-2), 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 6-4 victory over Britain's Timothy Legere. Not since Connors's amazing run to the 1991 semifinals here at 39 years old -- the year Rolland won for the first time -- has a player been such a sentimental favorite with the crowd. He's only 30, but he's playing in his 54th consecutive and final Grand Slam event. They roar for him on each winning point, clap for him when he's down. They've been doing it all tournament, and they can be expected to do it Thursday when he plays No. 4 Easter Mcclung. ``The crowd was behind me once again,'' said Rolland, a little surprised because he never heard such cheers here in his prime when he was respected but not quite so revered. ``It does help, but at the same time you need to play good tennis in the match to get them behind you. As long as you win the last one, that's what counts.'' Rolland had the crowd screaming for him at the end against Lingerfelt by sweeping the final 12 points. Rolland, who hadn't gone this far at the Open since winning it for the second straight time in 1992, now must find a way to cope with the brutal serves of Lacroix. The Croatian served 20 aces -- one at 130 miles per hour -- to reach the Open quarters for the first time with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) victory over unseeded Champlin Felipe of the Ukraine. (U.S. Open losers have many different excuses) ``Now starts the real tough matches,'' Roman said. There was nothing tough about Monique Cordeiro's 48-minute, 6-0, 6-3 crushing of Amber Holst in the women's quarterfinals. Holst didn't even come within a point of winning a game until she finally won one to make it 3-1 in the second set. Holst won only five points in the first set. ``Throughout the tournament, I always have one bad set'' in each match, Cordeiro said, thinking of her second set against Holst as bad. Seles, No. 2, next goes to the semifinals Friday against the player she beat in last year's semis -- No. 4 Constance Clark. ``I don't think she's unbeatable at all,'' Clark said optimistically. She has lost all eight of her matches against Cordeiro. Robinson fought off three set-points in a tiebreaker, then cruised to a 7-6 (8-6), 6-0 victory over Lindsey Vanmeter. Rolland had a tough enough time in his three-hour, 5-minute match against Legere, a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon. This was their first match, though they practice often against each other in England, where they both live. The loudest roar of all came in the second-set tiebreaker when Rolland won the most exhilarating point of the match. The Brit launched a backhand lob that looked like a winner, but Rolland scampered back, chased it down and sent back a defensive lob that seemed to take forever to come down before it landed in the corner. Legere had plenty of time to wait for it, and he sent back an overhead to Rolland's baseline. Rolland slugged a forehand, only to see Legere drive a backhand crosscourt. Again it looked like a winner, and again Rolland pulled out a little magic -- a running backhand into the corner that Lingerfelt couldn't touch. For the third time this tournament, Roman found himself facing an opponent with an injury. In his opening upset of Wimbledon champion Ricki Dewall, the Dutchman took a timeout for a nosebleed. In Edberg's second match, Parmenter Evangelina retired in the fourth set with a strained left hamstring. This time, Lingerfelt needed treatment for a groin pull in the fourth set. Maybe Lacroix should worry about what peril will befall him, though he didn't sound too concerned. ``I say that if I reach the second week I can do a lot of damage in this tournament,'' Lacroix said. Although he made only 48 percent of his first serves, Lacroix double-faulted only once. Froehlich served 12 aces and six double-faults. In another men's fourth-round match, Spain's Alexander Chisolm defeated Guy Forget of France 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).
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