Archives - Sunday, August 12, 2007

Mission accomplished, Johansson wins it all

Recall early in the week, Johansson said his goal was to "win it, of course. To have 5 good matches." Mission accomplished, Johansson has another match where he is victor. It's like we just finished a fine pasta meal at one of our good Italian restaurants of the area. Satisfying.

Finals singles results

(1) Thomas Johansson(SWE) def Dusan Vemic (SBR) 6-4,7-6(7)

Finals doubles results

Scott Oudsema(USA)/Ryan Sweeting(USA) def Richard Bloomfield(GBR)/Kyu Tae Im(KOR) 7-6(5),7-5

First, the doubles. We have had our share of quality doubles on the final Sunday and this was another. In the first set, Sweeting's service games seemed to be the key as those were the tightest. Out of his 3, 2 got to deuce and had a "deciding point". It was a close set and it came down to the last point in the tiebreak... Sweeting nailed a return to Im at his feet and he couldn't get it back over the net. Bloomfield/Im got revenge on the next game though, because Sweeting ended up having a tough shot that ended up an error for the 1st game break. The point of the match was in the 2nd game of that 2nd set... it had every thing. Up the court, run back to get the lob, volleys, overheads, groundstrokes, forehands, backhands... all of it. It ended when finally it got so quick at the net, Oudsema netted it. Oudsema/Sweeting got the break back and then again, both on Bloomfield's serve. Sweeting and Oudsema were a good pair though, tough to keep it flowing and they did fairly well with it.

On to the singles

With a win over Dusan Vemic, Thomas Johansson became the 1st top seed to win at Rec Park since Shuzo Matsuoka did it in 1995. Johansson raised his level every time Dusan challenged in front of the capacity crowd at Rec Park. Johansson broke early in the 3rd game when Vemic gave him 2 break points on a double fault. Vemic continued his strategy for the week of mixing it up, bringing Johansson into net frequently and not allowing too much of a rhythm in Johansson's backcourt game. None the less, Johansson held his serves comfortably in the 1st set with 3 games held at love.

In the 2nd set, Johansson almost had the break in the 1st game but Vemic utilized 2 aces to fight it off and hold. That would be the only opportunity until the tiebreak, as Vemic held at love for his next 3 games and had a total of 11 aces in the 2nd set, including 5 in the 9th game.

In the 2nd set tiebreak, Johansson hit a cross court passing shot at 3-5 that Vemic dove for, but couldn't reach as he gave the minibreak back. This was the 2nd time of the week, Vemic made the unlikely effort of diving on a hard court. When was the last time we saw that, yet alone twice by the same player. Johansson won the next 2 points as well and the pressure was squarely on Vemic at match point, 6-5 in the tiebreak. Vemic's energy and effort were indeed commended by the crowd, they appreciated him and even were "cheering for him" at times... though it may have been just to get the 3 sets. Vemic also was quick to congratulate his opponent on his many "nice shots".

Vemic continued to come in and reached a set point of his own on 2 big serves that set up an easy volley winner and then a Johansson return long. Johansson won it, on possibly a good summary of the match... Vemic serves, Johansson gets it back, Vemic hits a short ball, Johansson gets it and pushes it down the line, Vemic gets it and puts up a lob trying to go over Johansson's backhand side, Johansson leaps and gets it with authority and cross court where Vemic can't get it. Johansson was 4-0 in tiebreaks for the week, but Vemic had gotten the most points out of all opponents against the 2002 Australian champion. Vemic did impose his different style of play on Johansson, with Johansson having to come in to finish points frequently; it frustrated Johansson once in a while... but not in the important moments.

Lots of good professional tennis in these last couple of days. Johansson was a class guy. Business was to play well here. As he commented, "Well it has been a different experience in many ways. Its been a while since I've had pasta before the match in an RV, but all the people involved in the tournament have been working extremely hard and if we had this type of hard work all over the tour, we'd have a lot better tour for sure. For me, its been a great experience to be here." That says a lot for Laurie and her crew.

Let's review some facts on Thomas. He has a brilliant resume, he won one of the biggest championships of a truly international sport. He got injured and came all the way back to top 15. He got injured again and came all the way back. He was the top seed here. He was the only player to be practicing twice a day. Thomas himself was quoted a while ago (referring to young players looking for quick ways to the top) basically saying it takes a lot of hard work to get there, there is no quick way. He won the tournament. Rarely saw him lose his focus because he got disturbed with something he couldn't control. Dusan said "he deserves to be back in the top 10". He will be playing Davis Cup for Sweden against the USA in September. He will be in the US Open. This was one of the highlights in the history of the event. This was a highlight for the summer in Broome County. When's the last time Broome had a grand slammer in town, not in his senior career but coming back to be top 70 of the world (of the world, not just the states), winning an event here, all for $6 to watch.

One more look back coming on Tuesday. More pictures, player quotes, more facts, and a recap of the week.