By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
After the celebrity-pro charity “Night at the Net”
match Monday night, the bulk of the crowd left, leaving just a
fraction to witness the ensuing match between Swedish No. 7 seed
Magnus Norman and American Cecil Mamiit.
The majority of those on hand, however, were solidly behind the
L.A.-born, L.A.-raised and USC-educated Mamiit. But it didn’t
help his game in the end. Though he put up a good fight in the
first set, Mamiit fell 6-4, 6-2.
The two players broke each other five times in the first set.
Down 4-3, Mamiit broke Norman a second time to tie the score, but
Norman returned the favor, breaking Mamiit a third time to take the
lead 5-4. He won his last serve as well to take the set 6-4.
It wasn’t an easy match, though. For his fourth point
Norman had to play through three deuces. He took and lost the
advantage twice before gaining it for good.
For the first half of the second set Mamiit looked lackluster
and made several errors. Norman broke him twice and stormed out to
a 5-1 lead.
And Mamiit knew just how badly he was playing. After sending a
forehand into the net to give Norman his third point, he fell to
his knees and covered his head.
Be he didn’t go quietly after that. Though he hit the ball
into the net twice to trail 30-0, a crosscourt forehand, a Norman
error and an ace (as well as his own error) brought the game to
deuce, and from there Mamiit took the point to make the set
5-2.
He fought hard on the next point as well, and was ahead 40-15
but made two errors for deuce. Mamiit sent a shot behind Norman for
the advantage, but Norman had two tough serves that Mamiit
couldn’t return to take the set and match.
Throughout the match cries of, “C’mon,
“˜Cec’!”could be heard, while the loudest claps
were saved for Mamiit’s heroics.
In other Mercedes-Benz Monday first-round
action:
DANIEL WONG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Michael
Chang, last year’s Mercedes Benz Cup champion, eyes his
opponent, Noam Behr, before defeating him 6-2, 7-5.
- Defending L.A. champion Michael Chang (USA) defeated qualifier
Noam Behr of Israel 6-2, 7-5, but the match wasn’t easy. In
the second set Chang faced a 1-5 deficit, but rallied off six
straight games towin the set and match. During his surge he
didn’t drop a point in any game on serve. Up 6-5 and with
Behr serving, the game had five deuces, with Behr gaining the
advantage in the first three and Chang taking the advantage in the
last two to win the set 7-5.
- American Robby Ginepri, at 18 years and nine months the
youngest player in the draw, upset Canadian Sabastian Lareau 4-6,
6-3, 6-4 to earn his first ATP tour victory (he is now 1-2).
Ginepri was one of four qualifiers who had to play their way into
the main draw with matches on Saturday and Sunday. Now he is just
one of two qualifiers left in the draw (the other, Michael Joyce,
plays Jan-Michael Gambill Tuesday).
- In a match between two former Stanford teammates, Paul
Goldstein defeated wild card shootout winner Alex Kim 6-4,
6-3.
- Great Britain’s Greg Rusedski defeated Thailand’s
Paradorn Srichaphan 6-4, 7-6(4). Owner of the tour’s fastest
serve on record (149 miles per hour at the Tennis Masters Series
Indian Wells), Rusedski blasted 14 aces to Srichaphan’s none
en route to the victory.
- American Bob Bryan defeated France’s Anthony Dupuis
6-7(3), 7-6(3), 6-2.
- France’s Cyril Saulnier beat qualifier Cristiano Caratti
of Italy 6-4, 6-3.