21st February 2007
Tamira moves and shakes the world of pro tennis in Dubai
by Rose Mather
In an amazing electrically charged atmosphere, 16 year old qualifier, Tamira Paszek, stretched defending champion, Justine Henin (1) to an astonishing, 4-6; 7-5; 6-1, thrill ride in the second round at the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open, a WTA Tier ll event.

Spectators sensed a possible major upset in the making as Tamira, who came into the match with four wins behind her; three in qualifying and one over Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia in the first round, anticipated Justine's shots so well. She read the ball early and swung fearlessly with accuracy and consistency, pummeling the Belgian top seed's forehand to extract error after error to come back from 1-3 down in the first set and win it 6-4.

Justine, playing in her first match of the tournament and only her fourth match this year, looked uncomfortable and unsure what to do against the feisty young Austrian. She had to draw from her massive experience to raise the level of her game to claw her way back from a set down, and go ahead 4-1 in the second set.

With no thoughts of letting the set go, Tamira, who won a WTA tier lV last September and reached the junior US Open finals, captured two straight games to put herself back in contention. Serving at 15-all she challenged a call and lost when Hawk-Eye showed her forehand landed beyond the baseline on the big screen. This may have momentarily distracted her as she threw in a couple of double faults to lose her serve. Down, but not out, Tamira bounced back with another run of incredibly good shot-making to break and held with a backhand rifled down the line for five-games-all.

The crowd rumbled with excitement when Tamira worked her way to a break point for a 6-5 lead and a chance to serve for the match, but she netted a forehand which erased the advantage and, after one hour and 55 minutes, Justine broke to even the match at one set all.

In the third set Tamira's resistance showed signs of crumbling and she called for the trainer at 0-3. Fatigue had finally taken it's toll. To play at this intensity for over two hours must have been very draining for the 16 year old. However, she can come away from this match with a huge amount of confidence knowing she can compete at the highest level. She won plenty of fans tonight who expect to see her competing on the big stage for many years to come.

Well done Tamira!!!

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