Anke Huber vs. Florencia Labat
Du Maurier Open: Toronto
8/12/97
Singles: Second Round

	I won't suggest that everyone in the crowd was as excited about 
this matchup as yours truly, but the stands were packed.  While the seats rapidly
filled up, Australian chair umpire Leanne White inspected the first set 
of balls.  She found one which was not to her liking and quipped, "you 
wouldn't even give that to the dog."  It was replaced and Huber and Labat finally
arrived, squaring off for the first time since a three-set battle last 
year in Los Angeles.

	The keys to this match seemed obvious.  Flo would employ her
steady baseline game and get a lot of balls back; Huber would either win 
the match with winners or lose it with errors.  The first two games were 
a fitting microcosm of that all that theory entails.  Huber opened by 
breaking Labat at love with a pair of powerful winners, then got broken 
at love on four errors.  The German righted herself after that hiccup, 
though, and made it clear who was the much harder hitter.  Huber's 
punishing groundstrokes continually forced weak Labat replies and it was 
quickly 3-1.  Huber threw in some more errors, though, allowing Florencia
to hold for 3-2.

	Anke added an ace to her repertoire in the following game, a
relatively easy hold for 4-2.  Then at 15-15, Labat gracefully sent a
forehand down the line for what would have been her first clean winner of
the afternoon.  It was called out, though, much to Flo's chagrin.  "You
cannot make that mistake," she insisted.  "It's so clear that it's right 
on the line."  She was unnerved enough to double fault for 15-40.  Huber 
then took the game with a forehand winner and overpowered Florencia again 
in serving out the 6-2 first set.

	The clean slate seemed to agree with Labat, who closed out her 
best game of the match with a surprising ace.  She then got a look at a
potentially big break point up 30-40, but lost it by netting a backhand. 
Florencia got a second break point, but Huber dismissed it with a rare 
volley winner.  Labat got a THIRD break point, this one accompanied by a 
second serve, but a big Huber forehand forced Flo into a lunging backhand
error.  

	Anke went ahead to hold for 1-1.  Florencia somehow managed a 
second serve ace early in the next game, but she would scream "oh 
nooooooo!" after sending a backhand wide to get down 15-30.  She drew 
oohs and ahhs with a magnificent over-the-shoulder forehand on the next 
point, but lost it when a too cute drop shot bounced before even reaching
the net.  A pair of Huber errors brought the game to deuce, but a pair of
Huber winners completed the break for 2-1. 

	Labat had her chances in the next game, reaching deuce before 
losing it on a wide forehand.  The Argentine was getting her fair share 
of balls back, but she was also making some uncharacteristic errors.  
That was all the help Anke would need, because she was in very good form 
on this afternoon.  The #8 seed broke for 4-1 and held for 5-1, dropping 
only one point in each game.  Never scoring a groundstroke winner in the 
entire match, Florencia was virtually blown off the court in the final 
game.  A nice Labat smash got it to 15-30, but two Huber backhand winners
did the last of the required damage.  Despite a few loose points, Anke 
Huber never really let Florencia Labat into this bout and left on the 
long end of a convincing 6-2, 6-1 verdict.