It was the best of times. It was the worst times. Maybe it was a little of both, depending on how qualifying at the US Open turned out for you or your favorite player. But for me, it was a great time watching 2010 finalist Vera Zvonareva face sudden death a couple of times today to pull herself through a tough three set match against Lin Zhu to qualify for the main draw, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 win in 2 hours and 43 minutes. It wasn’t the prettiest tennis Zvonareva has played, saving 5 of 9 break point opportunities, but it was enough to get back to the main draw.
After the match and right before trotting off to the Tennis Channel, I asked her how special it was to do it the hard way.
“Well of course it’s very important,” she told me. “I’ve been playing on the big stages before, but now I had to go through the qualifying. You know, when I started last year, I won in the first round but lost in the second round of qualifying. So I was happy to come back here again and thought ‘well, I’ll give it another try’ and of course, I’m very happy to be in the main draw now.”
If the fans on Court 4 today were any indication, there’s a lot people very happy she’s in the main draw.
Tennis Atlantic 