Sony Ericsson WTA Tour : 2005


Sharapova andMauresmo Grab Semi Spots

Sharapova defeated Davenport yesterday, the number one of the world, and both have reached the semi-finals of the tournament. In the other group, two French A. Mauresmo and M. Pierce, are the other two players that have reached the semi-finals.

Madrid, November 11th, 2005. In one fell swoop, the remaining three semifinalists at the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships presented by Porsche were determined on Thursday, in a thrilling night of tennis highlighted by a three-set clash between both of this season's world No.1 players, Lindsay Davenport and Maria Sharapova. Other winners in round robin action on Day 3 were Amélie Mauresmo (pictured) and Patty Schnyder.
In what turned out to be one of the most exciting matches so far at STAPLES Center this week, former No.1 Sharapova squandered a chance to put away the match in straight sets, eventually regrouping to defeat current No.1 Davenport 63 57 64 in two hours, eight minutes. Although the two players hit comparable amounts of winners and unforced errors, Sharapova was largely the front-runner throughout the match, gaining early breaks of serve en route to 5-3 leads in each set. The Russian teenager closed out the first easily on serve, but failed to finish it off in the second, dropping four straight games to allow Davenport to take it to a third. Sharapova again grabbed an early break in the deciding set, eventually clinching the marathon victory with an ace on her third match point.

Sharapova and Davenport, the only players to have held the No.1 ranking at any point in 2005, have an intriguing head-to-head record. The Russian teenager won tight three-setters in their first two encounters, in the 2004 Wimbledon semifinals and in the 2005 Tokyo [Pan Pacific] final. In their third and most recent meeting, Davenport handed Sharapova her worst career loss, winning 60 60 in just 49 minutes. Thursday's three-set victory for Sharapova was thus her third victory in four career meetings with Davenport, and they could have their fifth meeting later this week, should they advance to the final.

In the late match on Thursday, another former No.1, Mauresmo, notched her second straight-set victory of the week, ousting Russia's Elena Dementieva 62 63 in one hour, 22 minutes. The two players each hit 15 winners throughout the match, but Dementieva was far wilder than Mauresmo when it came to unforced errors, spraying 31 miscues to Mauresmo's 17. The Frenchwoman was the more solid player on serve as well, surrendering just one service game while the Russian lost her delivery a total of four times in the match.



Sent News to a Friend:
From*
To*
Comments