Article written by Nikola Radovic

Early Exit

Jelena Dokic and her doubles partner Daja Bedanova had an early exit in the first round of the Scottsdale tournament. They went on the court today to play against Stephanie Cohen- Aloro and Marion Bartoli of France.
Stephanie and Marion, coming from the same country, young up-and-coming players had nothing to lose today. They went on court with no pressure, just wanting to learn more from great players as Jelena and Daja are, but a sad thing is, it was them who gave the lesson.

There was not a single spark in Jelena and Daja's game. Everything went wrong, no desire nor commitment in their game, no game plan at all. On the other side of the net, Stephanie and Marion, with no fear, with some good enough shots, with no rush, already ready for the biggest doubles win in their career. What a pity.
At the start of the match Jelena and Daja looked shaky, as Jelena double-faulted and sent balls flying just wide and long, atypical of her stellar winners and consistency. It would take until the second set before Jelena would settle her service games, pulling some aces on Bartoli.

But that was too late, because Stephanie and Marion continued to roll in the second set, winning many points off of Jelena's second serve. Consequently, Stephanie and Marion changed their strategy midway through the second set and responded to Jelena's power with a menacing force of their own. Even when Jelena and Daja tried to change few things in the second set, it was a too hard task at that point, mainly because of some hard hitting and consistency from the other side of the net.

Stephanie and Marion took a 4-1 lead in the second set thanks to power serves and deep volleys and never looked back. One the other side of the net, Jelena stayed at the baseline during many points, leaving Daja to chase down drop volleys. An interesting tactic that didn't give much. Stephanie Cohen- Aloro and Marion Bartoli defeated Jelena Dokic and Daja Bedanova 6-0, 6-2.