I’ve seen bagels dished out in 15 minutes this year, so for sixth seed Hanna Chang to take 31 minutes to do likewise to Jade Otway yesterday morning in Austin means that the New Zealander couldn’t have been playing as badly as many of those others. Otway served first, winning two points in her first service game and only one in her second, but she had a break point against Chang in the fourth game before saving the first game point. The fifth game saw Otway again win only one point on her serve, but she saved two set points from 40-15 before Chang served out the final game after the deuce.
The second set started much better for Otway, with comfortable holds in her first two service games. I was able to start watching the match when she served for the third time, and that was the longest game of the match. They worked their way through seven deuces, with Otway having four game points before Chang converted her fourth break point. Three double faults didn’t help Otway’s cause, the second coming when she had her third game point, and the last giving Chang her third chance to break. She saved those earlier break points so easily that it seemed hard to imagine how she could have be losing so badly.
Otway saved two game points from 40-15 when Chang served next, and those saves were two terrific forehand winners down the left sideline. Chang was able to hold serve after the deuce to consolidate the break, and she always had the advantage in the next game, having the lead after each of the three deuces and converting her last break point. She did hit consecutive double faults to lose her first two match points, and dropped back to deuce when she lost the next one as well, but she didn’t have any trouble closing it out after an hour and 25 minutes. The final score was 6-0, 6-2.