How do you solve a problem like Maria? - Friday
Maria wore a fancy outfit at the US Open but nevertheless she was defeated
This is the title for a famous song; from an even more famous movie back in the mid 1960’s, the ‘Sound of Music’.
But now I am incorporating this in the title for yet another Maria, not Maria von Trapp of course but Maria Sharapova, easily the best looking female tennis player on the circuit today.
Sharapova it would seem flatters only to fail. The Wimbledon champion of 2004 is one of the injury prone players on the circuit and has disappointed her fans on many occasions.
She has been unceremoniously bundled out of the US Open by the junior champ at Wimbledon. Flushing Meadows is where all the action is. Maria has certainly been flushed out! Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland pulled off the stunning upset, beating the defending US Open champion 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 in a third-round match that took a startling turn last Saturday. Sharapova seemed to take control by winning eight games in a row, giving her a 2-0 lead in the final set. Then, she fell apart and dropped the last six games. There are no excuses for her loss. Sharapova became the first number 2-seeded woman to lose before the round of 16 at the Open since Andrea Jaeger in 1981. Her father could barely stand to watch, moving from his front-row perch to a seat farther back during the final points.
The 30th-ranked Radwanska had a lot to do with Sharapova’s undoing. At 18, the former junior champ at Wimbledon and the French Open played with poise and smarts, creeping closer and closer to the service box on second serves, hoping to unnerve the two-time Grand Slam winner. At times, Radwanska walked nearly halfway from the baseline to the net as Sharapova got ready, then backed off at the last second.
Teenage power
Roger is firing on all cylinders at the US Open
Swasn’t the only Russian to lose to an 18-year-old from Eastern Europe. Slowed by a hip problem, number 7 Nadia Petrova of Russia fell to Agnes Szavay of Hungary 6-4, 6-4. The 18-year-old felled the Russian glamour girl 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 in a wind-affected morning encounter.
Sharapova had been a red-hot favourite to coast into the last 16, playing in the first match up on the Arthur Ashe Stadium centre-court.
The second seed had won her opening two games; both played at night, for the loss of just two games and had spent just 101 minutes on court. Things worked out very differently against Radwanska.
Radwanska admitted indulging in a bit of gamesmanship in trying to unnerve Sharapova by jumping about when she was serving.
Nadal hopes to upset the Federer reign
Bucking the trend of losing Russians was sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze, who scored a fourth straight win over India’s favourite sportswoman, Sania Mirza, 6-2, 6-3 in 53 minutes. US 12th seed Venus Williams, who beat Ivanovic in a Wimbledon semi-final in July on her way to a sixth Grand Slam crown, fired 30 winners to beat Ukranian 21st seed Alona Bondarenko 6-1, 6-2 in 58 minutes.
Henin breezed past Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-0, 6-2 in 50 minutes. The Belgian, who won her sixth Slam title at July’s French Open, next faces Russian Dinara Safina.
Djokovic, who next plays 59th-ranked Argentine teen Juan Martin Del Potro, was hugged by Stepanek after the stamina-shredding struggle.
Another Federer-Nadal showdown?
Meanwhile in the Men’s circuit, Fifth-seeded Andy Roddick breezed through beating 2002 Australia Open champion Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-3, 6-2, 6-0 to reach the fourth round. Rafael Nadal’s injured left knee looked well, Serbian third seed Novak Djokovic withstood an upset bid; Britain’s Tim Henman bid farewell and five women’s stars advanced on a busy Friday at the US Open.
Second-ranked Nadal, who struggled with tendinitis in an opening victory, reached the third round when Serbian Janko Tipsarevic retired due to a right side injury with the Spaniard leading 6-2, 6-3, 3-2.
Nadal, who beat top-ranked Roger Federer in the French Open final but lost to him in the Wimbledon final, still sees him as a title threat.
Federer, seeking his 12th Grand Slam title and fourth US Open title in a row, has a third-round match Saturday against 199th-ranked American John Isner.
Nadal’s next foe will be France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who won 7-6 (7/2), 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 over Henman in the Englishman’s tournament farewell. Henman, who turns 33 next week, will retire after a Davis Cup tie at Wimbledon. Are we heading for another showdown between the giants of men’s tennis Federer and Nadal?
Feedback : editor.friday@lakehouse.lk
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