By Foster Niumata
Just after 5 o'clock yesterday, shadows creeping further from their feet, Chanda Rubin had Mary Joe Fernandez in the gun.
Rubin was 5-1 up with serve in the final set of the primo first-round tennis matchup of the former top-10 stars in the ASB Bank Classic at Stanley St. Game, set ... wait a sec.
How easy to forget the reputations that precede these two. Both don't know what `give up' means. Rubin has played some of the longest matches in women's tennis history; she'll shed blood before she lies down. Fernandez once trailed Gabriela Sabatini 1-6 1-5, and won. Fighters both, even in their comebacks from serious wrist injuries.
Back to centre court. Victory was the last thing on Rubin's mind, even the possibility of her first in three career matches with her United States Fed Cup mate.
"She's come back from being down, I've come back from difficulty, it's not something I take lightly," said Rubin, justifiably. Fernandez broke her, starting smoke that was quickly doused by Rubin to triumph 7-6 (7-1) 3-6 6-2 in an entertaining two-hour bash.
So when had Rubin become confident? "When it was over," she said. "Then I felt, whoa, I can breathe now."
Rubin was the avalanche to the Fernandez waterfall, cracking winners while Fernandez caressed them. An appreciative crowd of 1500 started out making oohs and aahs but the Americans' excellence soon became familiar.
Fernandez served for the first set, but after the eighth break, they stumbled into a tiebreak in which Rubin was the aggressor.
"I wish I could have held serve just one more time," said No 77 Fernandez, who jumped on No 35 Rubin's first lapse in the second set, but needed four set-points to equalise.
In the last, Rubin was pleased to keep up her intensity - which usually wavers - especially in her first match of the year.
It was a match Rubin almost missed. She left her passport in the rental car she used while training in Palm Springs last week, and didn't realise it until the day before leaving for Auckland.
When she landed here after the draw on Saturday, and discovered she was paired with Fernandez, Rubin's first thought was "Oh, that figures." Next up, the Netherlands' Kristie Boogert.
All the seeds survived into round two, including top seed Dominique van Roost, who this afternoon meets 17-year-old wildcard New Zealander Leanne Baker, who rubbed out Boogert's countrywoman, 57th-ranked Miriam Oremans 6-3 6-4 in a stunner.
Hopefully it was noted by the Auckland Tennis board, who are going to give a wildcard to Jim Courier for next week's ATP Open at the expense of a New Zealander.
Fifth seed Lisa Raymond prevailed 6-4 5-7 6-4 when Alexia Dechaume-Balleret's serve blew up after she led 4-2 in the third. Sixth seed Tara Snyder could be thankful it was her first match, as qualifier Meilen Tu ran out of gas in her fourth match in as many days.
One qualifier made it to the second round, Japan's Miho Saeki, the first alternate. She now plays Raymond, who lost to a qualifier last year.
Pictured: Chanda Rubin at Stanley St. HERALD PICTURE / KENNY RODGER
Tennis: Rubin guns down Fed cup mate Fernandez
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.