Conchita Martinez vs. Annie Miller
Singles: Second Round
Centre Court
After scoring her first victory in nearly two years on Monday,
semi-retired Annie Miller's reward was a Centre Court showdown with
reigning French Open champion Conchita Martinez. Clad in an eye-catching
lime green dress which almost perfectly matched the court surface,
perhaps Miller's plan was to blend into her surroundings and
disappear. That was almost a reasonable inference to make a few
games into this lopsided encounter. Struggling mightily against the
versatile Spaniard, Miller dropped the first four games of the match.
Martinez was looking very relaxed, moving Miller around and taking
advantage of every short ball. Annie even tried some uncharacteristic
moonballs, unwisely trying to beat Conchita at her own game. Miller
did stake a 40-0 lead in Game 5, but Martinez won the next five points
and extended her lead to 5-0. A Miller forehand floated long on
set point, concluding the first set bagel job after just 26 minutes.
Martinez called for the trainer in between sets, but from my vantage
point I couldn't tell what the specific situation was. I don't
believe Conchita was ever treated for an actual injury and she
certainly wasn't playing like she had one. Martinez quickly went
ahead 2-0 in the second set. Game 3 went to four deuces, with Miller
gamely trying to hold serve. However, she was once again wide with a
forehand on break point and the deficit increased to 0-3. Still on a
mission to save face, Miller earned three break points in Game 4, but
Martinez kept fending them off. The third was an unbelievable rally --
Miller taking control of the point, losing control of the point,
scrambling to hit a ball which had gotten behind her, and finally
watching helplessly as Martinez whipped a backhand winner down the
line.
Miller double faulted on her way to losing yet another service game
and falling behind 0-6, 0-5. The second set really had been
somewhat competitive, though, and Martinez apparently decided to
reward Miller by giving her one game. After taking a 15-0 lead,
Martinez made four undisciplined-looking errors in a row. Miller was
finally on the board at 1-5 and couldn't help smiling when she was
granted a round of applause. I suppose only Conchita knows for sure
whether that one game was an intentional gift. At any rate, she then
got back to the task at hand, breaking Miller for the sixth time to
finish a 6-0, 6-1 drubbing. The numbers told the story for Annie
Miller -- a paltry 2 winners, compared to 24 unforced errors. However,
for the rest of Miller's story, you can check out a transcript of the
one-on-one interview I conducted with her
after the match.
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