Novotna Makes Stand Against Teen Rebellion

Finally someone reached down and smote one of the pipsqueaks nipping at the rankings of the aging, and very nervous, veterans of the women’s tennis tour.

Third-seeded Jana Novotna, one of the tour’s most aged and snarly players, wrested center stage at the U.S. Open from Mirjana Lucic of Croatia on Saturday night, and struck a blow for the old gals by winning her third-round match, 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3.

Novotna, 28, is the oldest woman left in the tournament and Lucic, 15, is the youngest player entered, but the new wave of teenage players here show no respect for their elders. Which is precisely the point for Novotna and the other 20-somethings.

The win was a morale booster for Novotna, whose ranking moved to No. 2 after she made it to the Wimbledon final, where she lost to that most pesky teen, Martina Hingis.

Novotna suffered a strained stomach muscle at Wimbledon and pulled out of most of the early hardcourt tournaments. Her first tournament was the week before the Open, two rounds at Atlanta.

Still, like her age peers, she has been fed up with the attention paid to Lucic, Venus Williams and Anna Kournikova.

Lucic is not unaccomplished. She won the U.S. Open junior title last year but, because of age restrictions, has played only four tournaments on the WTA Tour. She won the first tour tournament she entered and reached the final in the next.

This is the first Grand Slam event she has entered.

Lucic is of the new breed of teenager crowding the landscape in women’s tennis--smiling, ruthless and powerful beyond their years. The game now is about power, and the 6-foot Lucic punishes the ball.

Novotna said she had never played anyone who hit the ball so hard.

“Now it seems like the teenagers are maturing much, much faster,” Novotna said. “It may be because they are starting physical activity at such a young age. They are so developed at age 15 and 16.”

A hallmark of the younger players is their unflagging confidence. Lucic was exhorting herself through the match, egged on by an enthusiastic crowd waving red, white and blue Croatian flags.

The canny Novotna was forced to pull out every shot in her arsenal to keep Lucic at bay in the first set. Lucic was slow to adapt to Novotna’s slice and was bogged down by unforced errors.

That changed in the second set, even as the pressure mounted. Novotna was up 4-1 and two service breaks. She was serving for the match at 5-4, but Lucic broke serve for the third consecutive time and pulled even. Both players held to force a tiebreaker, which Lucic dominated in squaring the match.

Novotna requested a bathroom break before the third set and, rather than being put off by the delay, Lucic wisely got up and moved around. Her poise never wavered.

That point was made clear as she broke Novotna in the first game. After Lucic took a 3-1 lead in the set, hints of Novotna’s propensity to fold under pressure began to surface. But Novotna yearns to throw off that mantle and did so with her performance at Wimbledon.

And now here. Novotna swept the next five games.

Novotna created breathing room by breaking at love in the sixth game. Propelled by a snappier serve, she held serve more easily and began to narrow in on Lucic’s serve. Novotna broke in the eighth game and strode toward the net, shaking her fist at Lucic. The Croatian mouthed something back and the crowd weighed in with hoots and whistles.

Novotna served out the match and, instead of applauding the winner, the crowd jeered.

“I knew that everyone would like to see her win,” Novotna said. “But I thought I handled the whole situation well. My game, and the way I play, that was the answer to everything.”

Lucic had no answers after the match, except that her great disappointment was evident. Not for Lucic the congratulatory “Well, I made it to the third round of the U.S. Open and I’m only 15.”

Her assessment was more harsh.

“I can’t believe . . . I don’t really know what happened with me,” she said. “I really think I should have won. . . . I had the match in my hands and I am not happy about that.”

Other Matches

The hoped-for rematch of Alex Corretja and Pete Sampras will not take place. Corretja, seeded No. 6, withdrew before his match with Richard Krajicek, complaining he had re-injured the quadriceps in his left leg.

The top-seeded Sampras needed only an hour and a half to dispatch Alex Radulescu of Germany, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

In a night match, Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden swept ninth-seeded Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, 6-3, 6-1, 7-5. Earlier, Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic withstood Mark Philippoussis’ 25 aces and beat the 14th-seeded Australian, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5, 6-2.

Among the women, seventh-seeded Conchita Martinez was ousted by Rachel McQuillan of Australia, 6-2, 7-5. Magui Serna of Spain upset No. 16 Kimberly Po of Rolling Hills, 6-4, 6-3. Top-seeded Martina Hingis began slowly in her match but defeated Elena Likhovtseva of Russia, 7-5, 6-2. Sixth-seeded Lindsay Davenport likewise got a slow start, but rallied to defeat Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4.