andrewbroad
Mar 18th, 2006, 07:08 PM
=================
PACIFIC LIFE OPEN
(Indian Wells, California, USA; outdoor hard; WTA Tier I)
================= http://www.pacificlifeopen.com/ (http://www.pacificlifeopen.com/)
Photos
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http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?c=news_photos&p=sharapova (http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?c=news_photos&p=sharapova)
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=99305&page=120 (http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=99305&page=120) (and p.121)
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=223924&page=6 (http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=223924&page=6) (and onwards)
http://forums.lawntennisnews.com/gallery/index.php (http://forums.lawntennisnews.com/gallery/index.php)
Search Getty Images for "sharapova"
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My tournament-preview (as I posted at the time)
---------------------
It is vitally important that MARIA wins this tournament. She's not won one since Birmingham 2005, and if you look at the tournaments between now and Birmingham 2006, it's a relatively weak draw here, but then it's Miami which is compulsory for all the top players, and then only clay-court tournaments... so it's a distinct possibility that Maria will go into Birmingham without another title to her name if she doesn't get her act together here.
2r: Jamea Jackson looked powerful and athletic against Maria at Birmingham 2004, and looked even more impressive in beating Maria Kirilenko 6-2 6-3 at Birmingham 2005 (I attended both matches). But she's no match for a player of Big Maria's calibre (6-2 6-2 at Birmingham 2004).
3r: Emilie Loit beat Maria 6-3 6-4 at the US Open 2003, but Maria has come so far since then that it should be a non-issue now.
4r: Maria beat Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-4 6-2 at Rome 2005 - on clay - but Medina has already won a title (Tier IV Canberra) in 2006. I hope Maria will play cute Shahar Peer instead.
qf: I'm a bit worried about Anna-Lena Grönefeld, who was thrashing Maria 6-1 4-2 at Moscow 2005 when she suddenly retired with a serious ankle-injury. Grönefeld seems to have recovered from that now, as she won her first WTA singles-title at Tier III Acapulco last week, while Maria has to go back to Birmingham 2005 to match that achievement.
A quarter-final against Selesian player Marion Bartoli would be a much nicer draw!
sf: The seedings decree a repeat of Maria's Indian Wells 2005 semi-final against Lindsay Davenport, and we all know what happened there. But Maria has won all four of her other matches against Davenport.
The other dangerous opponent in that quarter is Martina Hingis, who humiliated Maria 6-3 6-1 in the Tokyo semis last month, but Maria avenged that defeat 6-3 6-4 at Dubai. Davenport and Hingis would meet in the fourth round, with the winner almost certain to go through to the semi-finals in my objective opinion, although I'd love to see the sexy Marta Domachowska come through instead!
final: I'm glad to see that Justine Henin-Hardenne is in the other half of the draw, because she's by far the greatest threat to Maria, and quite possibly the only player who could beat Maria in the final - although I'm a bit worried that Elena Dementieva beat Hingis 6-2 6-0 in the Tokyo final right after Hingis beat Maria 6-3 6-1.
But there are so many nice players in the other half, including Tatiana Golovin, Maria Kirilenko, Sania Mirza, Anna Chakvetadze, Ana Ivanovic, Gisela Dulko and Karolina Šprem - how wonderful it would be if one of those girls broke through and reached the final!
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Second round (Friday 10th March)
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+ MARIA SHARAPOVA [3] d. Jamea Jackson, 6-4 6-3
Maria's match had a rain-delayed start on Friday. She had to be patient against Jamea Jackson in cold, windy conditions, winning 6-4 6-3 in 1h28m.
Maria: "I don't think, first match, you're going to play your best tennis. I hung in there and I served smart. She's a great mover out there, and she makes you play another ball, but I was ready for that.
"I'm working on my net game, you know, working on coming in, watching the ball better, you know, seeing the short balls, you know, coming in and trying to finish the points sooner, you know, not letting my opponent get another chance to get back in the point."
[Re. her shoulder-injury]
"It's getting better. It's definitely better than it was last year. I mean there's some days where, you know, it hurts a little bit. There are some days where it's perfect. You know, but I'm maintaining the pain."
Full interview:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=124801&page=8 (http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=124801&page=8)
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Third round (Sunday 12th March)
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+ MARIA SHARAPOVA [3] d. Lisa Raymond, 6-4 6-0
The match was played in cold, rainy conditions. Maria was wearing a sweatshirt and trousers (with a skirt, much to the criticism of the fashion-police), and her hands were cold.
Maria broke for *4-3 in the first set, then games went with serve until Maria served it out 6-4. Then she breezed through the second to win the match in 1h10m.
Maria: "I think I moved well, and I think towards the middle of the first set, I started moving a little bit better, and started running around my backhand and hitting a few extra forehands, just to get going."
She also said she's working on serve-and-volley. The complete interview is here:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showpost.php?p=7561210 (http://www.wtaworld.com/showpost.php?p=7561210)
This set up an intriguing fourth-round encounter against the strangely-attractive Shahar Peer. Shahar gets a lot of balls back, which is Maria's toughest type of opponent, and she took a set off Maria at Beijing 2005.
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Fourth round (Tuesday 14th March)
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+ MARIA SHARAPOVA [3] d. SHAHAR PEER [21], 7-6 (7/2) 6-1
Maria led 5-3* in the first set, but had to save a set-point at *5-6 before taking it on the tiebreak. Shahar broke in the first game of the second, but Maria reeled off six games in a row.
Maria: "I started off okay. I just tried to get used to her timing on our serve. It was a little bit difficult. She wasn't making a lot of first serves. The second serve kicked up pretty high. It took me a while to get used to that, try to attack it.
"As the match went on, I felt more confident about it. You know, should have taken my opportunity at 5-3, at 5-4, especially serving for the set. I don't think I should have let it go to a tiebreak.
"But a lot of players can play well when they're behind. That's just the way it is. They have nothing to lose. 3-1, then 5-3. They just start playing a lot better simply because they have nothing to lose. They're down a break.
"I guess that's when you need to be extra careful, because out of nowhere your opponent can start playing really well. It's important to close it out if you can."
Maria's full interview:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showpost.php?p=7576062 (http://www.wtaworld.com/showpost.php?p=7576062)
---------------------
Quarter-final preview (as I posted on jeldani at the time)
---------------------
Maria's next opponent is armed and extremely dangerous. Anna-Lena Grönefeld is on a winning-streak of 8 matches after winning her first-ever WTA singles-title at Acapulco, and was thrashing Maria 6-1 4-1* (with two break-points for *5-1) at Moscow 2005 when she [Grönefeld] sprained her ankle and had to retire at 4-2 (0/30).
Maria: "Yeah, I played Grönefeld last time in Moscow, very weird match. Unfortunately, she sprained her ankle. It will be a totally different match tomorrow. I was worried a lot about my injury in Moscow. I'm feeling a lot better about it this year. So hopefully, you know...
"She's a great player. She serves really big. That's one of her biggest strengths. I want to make sure I serve well and try to put pressure on her serve.
"She's had really good results last year. I think she played really solid tennis. Like I said, she's a tall girl and uses her height really well with big groundstrokes, a big serve. I think the big serve, if you can hold your serve, against many players, that works."
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Quarter-final (Wednesday 15th March)
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+ MARIA SHARAPOVA [3] d. ANNA-LENA GRÖNEFELD [7], 6-1 6-3
Maria's match was much easier than I expected. Grönefeld held serve in the first game, but Maria reeled off six games in a row to take the first set 6-1.
They exchanged breaks at the start of the second set (with Maria serving first), then games went with serve until Maria broke for 5-3 and served out the match in 1h20m.
Maria: "I thought I started off really well, and that was really, really important. From the beginning of the match, I didn't underestimate her serve or her big game. So I think I came out ready, ready for the challenge; it turned out well.
"I definitely stepped it up a little bit, especially when I needed to. I was a little patient in the end, which was important. You know, forced her to hit some errors in the end. But, yeah, I think that's also the little experience. I knew that she would come out having nothing to lose, so I had to be a little bit more patient, you know, just try to force the errors from her.
"[Defence is] one of the things that I'm working on. You know, I think a lot of that has to do with movement, physically feeling good out on the court. Especially in the beginning of the match, I felt like I was moving really well. I made her hit an extra shot, causing the error."
Maria's full interview:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showpost.php?p=7583231 (http://www.wtaworld.com/showpost.php?p=7583231)
------------------
Semi-final preview (as I posted on jeldani at the time)
------------------ [Maria v Martina Hingis]
Maria: "You're playing a great champion, someone that's obviously achieved a lot in her career. And she's still young. Any opponent that I see across the net, I cannot think about whether they're terrible or they're great. I can't put that in my mind.
"In Dubai, I basically took my opportunities, the ones that I had. In Tokyo, even when I felt like I could get back in the match, I didn't take my opportunities, made a few errors. I think I was more focused on the match in Dubai. I really tried not to worry about what my opponent was doing."
After what happened at Tokyo and what happened at Dubai, I think this is a 50-50 match.
One thing in Maria's favour is that it starts at 11:00 PST (19:00 GMT). Hingis admitted in her last press-conference <http://www.pacificlifeopen.com/ (http://www.pacificlifeopen.com/)> that she doesn't like playing in the morning.
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Semi-final (Friday 17th March)
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+ MARIA SHARAPOVA [3] d. MARTINA HINGIS [19][WC], 6-3 6-3
Ken Peters, AP Sports: "Sharapova dominated the match with powerful hard groundstrokes, hitting 29 winners to nine by the Swiss star".
Matthew Cronin, Reuters: "Sharapova gave a sterling performance against Hingis, wearing her opponent down in long rallies, attacking the Swiss player's second serves, and bullying her from the forehand side.
"Hingis tried to move the 18-year-old around the court but Sharapova, who was suffering with blisters, stayed in the points and put away any mid-court balls with aplomb.
"While she is known for her fist pumps and self-motivating yells, Sharapova was particularly fired up against Hingis, especially after a fan called out in the second set, saying that she was tired."
Agence France Presse: "However, the Swiss star's strategy of prolonging the rallies and wearing down her opponent sapped her own strength as well".
CEEFAX: "Hingis could not contain a pumped-up Sharapova, particularly on her own serve".
Dan23: "Maria had the wood on Martina in a lot of the long points, such intelligent play by Masha. She was patient and continued to place the ball perfectly. That point finished with the drop volley was a beauty".
Maria had two break-points in the opening game, but Hingis held. Maria then won five games in a row to lead 5-1*. She was unsuccessful serving for the set at 5-2 (when Hingis converted her first break-point of the match), but broke Hingis to take the first set 6-3 when Hingis hit a backhand wide.
In the second set, Maria jumped out to a *2-0 lead, was broken for 2-1*, but broke again for 4-1*. Hingis saved a break-point which would have given Maria *5-1, then broke back again, and Maria at 4-3* had a medical time-out for a blister on her sole.
Then Maria broke to love for *5-3 and served out a 6-3 6-3 victory when Hingis made two backhand errors - Maria won on her first match-point. The match took 1h38m - a long time for that score.
Maria really attacked Hingis's second serve - Hingis won only 37% of those points.
Maria now leads Hingis 2-1 head-to-head after losing their first-ever meeting (Tokyo Pan Pacific Open 2006).
Maria quotes
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"I don't think the scores showed anything, it was physically and mentally so challenging to play against her today. The score doesn't show how physically and mentally tough every point was. We were fighting for everything.
"The quality of the match was just great. It's good to see we can play these high-quality matches. She tried to mix it up a little at the end of the first set, and I knew it would be physically harder. Mentally, I told myself: 'It doesn't matter how many balls she gets, do everything possible to get one more ball back.'
"I was really ready today - I really was. I knew it was going to be tough; I didn't underestimate her level of play. I knew it was going to be a very tough match, and I need[ed] to be ready for it.
"I think [it's important] to see the opportunities when they come, especially on short balls, taking those opportunities, not letting her get back in the point. That's what she does great, you know, is getting a lot of balls back, seeing the ball and making you hit an extra shot.
"I think the level of tennis was definitely higher than I've played in the last few months. Thank God it just went my way. I think I played a great match in Australia in the semis, and it didn't go my way. So, you know, it was a good end to the day."
[Re. the spectator who yelled out "Martina, she's getting tired!"]
"That kind of pumped me up, and I hit two winners in a row. I looked back at [him] and I'm like, 'I'm tired, my butt.' So don't mess with a truck. You're going to become a pancake.
"The funny thing was, he started clapping for me after that. I think he got scared. Then when I was waving to that side [after winning], he's like <Maria mimics his sheepish wave>."
[Re. the final]
"I want to play Justine, because I lost to her the last two times."
Hingis quotes
-------------
"She didn't really give me many chances. I tried to play defense, more offense. But I just didn't get many opportunities to really do too much with balls. I think I didn't do that badly. She was just better.
"She has good offense game. She pressure me in the beginning. She play really well. Compared to the other two matches, she definitely started off a lot better than the previous ones.
"For sure since 4-1 I started to play better. All these chances I had, and games I could have won, she won anyway. You've got to have the stamina.
"I won't have any regrets any more. No matter what happens now, I know I've come a far way. That was probably one of my biggest fears, to come back and disappoint. I haven't won a tournament yet, but I think I've already showed that I've still got some game.
"If someone told me, 'You're going to make the semifinals, beating Lindsay and Safina,' probably I would have signed the contract in the beginning of the week. But now that you've come that far, I wouldn't be a competitor if I be satisfied with getting there. You always just want to get more out of it.
"All I have to say is: she was just too good today, and I'm happy there is more tournaments coming up. I have to work on certain things, and try to get better till Miami."
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The Final
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* ELENA DEMENTIEVA [4] v MARIA SHARAPOVA [3] (DAVAI MARIA!!)
Maria and Elena are the first two Russians ever to reach an Indian Wells women's singles final (the first all-Russian WTA singles final since Moscow 2004). They have each won one Tier I title in their careers - both at the Tokyo Pan Pacific Open (Maria in 2005, Dementieva in 2006), so one of them will win her second Tier I today.
I was delighted when I saw that Dementieva had beaten Justine Henin-Hardenne 2-6 7-5 7-5 in the other semi-final (which was played after Maria's), not only because Dementieva is much prettier, sexier, and uses more hands on the racket than Henin, but because it removed the one player in the draw whom I didn't believe Maria would have beaten.
Maria should also be much fresher than Dementieva, who has won four of her five matches here in three sets while Maria has dropped no sets, and no more than seven games in any match. Dementieva has much less time to recover from a much tougher semi-final than Maria's (Dementieva's SF took 2h52m).
Maria leads Dementieva 3-1 head-to-head:
2003 Birmingham qf: Maria 2-6 7-6 6-2
2003 Shanghai qf: Dementieva 6-4 7-6
2004 Rome 2r: Maria 6-1 6-4
2004 Zurich sf: Maria 4-6 6-2 6-3
On paper, Maria is the clear favourite against the world #8, who is renowned for her weak serve which has produced 59(?) double faults this tournament. BBC senior commentator John Barrett once said of Maria, "If only Dementieva had this woman's serve!"
But I'm not taking anything for granted. A lot of finals in early 2006 have been won by the underdog, and Dementieva beat Hingis 6-2 6-0 in the Tokyo final right after Hingis had beaten Maria 6-3 6-1.
If Maria can hold serve reliably then she could win quite comfortably, but I get the feeling there could be a lot of breaks against both players in this match.
It's particularly important for Maria to go for a straight-sets win, especially if her blister is going to be a problem. Dementieva has an excellent record in third sets.
Dementieva: "I'm very proud to see another Russian final in a big event like this. And to play against Maria, it's going to be very interesting. I played her long ago, and she looks very powerful. She looks like one of the best players for the moment. It will be interesting for me."
Order of play for Saturday
--------------------------
Stadium 1 (start 11:30 PST = 19:30 GMT)
1. MS sf: ROGER FEDERER [1] v Paradorn Srichaphan
|
(not before 14:30 PST = 22:30 GMT)
2. WS f: ELENA DEMENTIEVA [4] v MARIA SHARAPOVA [3]
|
(not before 16:30 PST = 00:30 GMT)
3. MS sf: James Blake v RAFAEL NADAL [2]
4. MD f: BOB BRYAN/MIKE BRYAN [1] v MARK KNOWLES/DANIEL NESTOR [3]
--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/ (http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/)
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/ (http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/)
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/shara/ (http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/shara/)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sizzlingsharapova/ (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sizzlingsharapova/)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jeldani/ (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jeldani/)
PACIFIC LIFE OPEN
(Indian Wells, California, USA; outdoor hard; WTA Tier I)
================= http://www.pacificlifeopen.com/ (http://www.pacificlifeopen.com/)
Photos
------
http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?c=news_photos&p=sharapova (http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?c=news_photos&p=sharapova)
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=99305&page=120 (http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=99305&page=120) (and p.121)
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=223924&page=6 (http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=223924&page=6) (and onwards)
http://forums.lawntennisnews.com/gallery/index.php (http://forums.lawntennisnews.com/gallery/index.php)
Search Getty Images for "sharapova"
---------------------
My tournament-preview (as I posted at the time)
---------------------
It is vitally important that MARIA wins this tournament. She's not won one since Birmingham 2005, and if you look at the tournaments between now and Birmingham 2006, it's a relatively weak draw here, but then it's Miami which is compulsory for all the top players, and then only clay-court tournaments... so it's a distinct possibility that Maria will go into Birmingham without another title to her name if she doesn't get her act together here.
2r: Jamea Jackson looked powerful and athletic against Maria at Birmingham 2004, and looked even more impressive in beating Maria Kirilenko 6-2 6-3 at Birmingham 2005 (I attended both matches). But she's no match for a player of Big Maria's calibre (6-2 6-2 at Birmingham 2004).
3r: Emilie Loit beat Maria 6-3 6-4 at the US Open 2003, but Maria has come so far since then that it should be a non-issue now.
4r: Maria beat Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-4 6-2 at Rome 2005 - on clay - but Medina has already won a title (Tier IV Canberra) in 2006. I hope Maria will play cute Shahar Peer instead.
qf: I'm a bit worried about Anna-Lena Grönefeld, who was thrashing Maria 6-1 4-2 at Moscow 2005 when she suddenly retired with a serious ankle-injury. Grönefeld seems to have recovered from that now, as she won her first WTA singles-title at Tier III Acapulco last week, while Maria has to go back to Birmingham 2005 to match that achievement.
A quarter-final against Selesian player Marion Bartoli would be a much nicer draw!
sf: The seedings decree a repeat of Maria's Indian Wells 2005 semi-final against Lindsay Davenport, and we all know what happened there. But Maria has won all four of her other matches against Davenport.
The other dangerous opponent in that quarter is Martina Hingis, who humiliated Maria 6-3 6-1 in the Tokyo semis last month, but Maria avenged that defeat 6-3 6-4 at Dubai. Davenport and Hingis would meet in the fourth round, with the winner almost certain to go through to the semi-finals in my objective opinion, although I'd love to see the sexy Marta Domachowska come through instead!
final: I'm glad to see that Justine Henin-Hardenne is in the other half of the draw, because she's by far the greatest threat to Maria, and quite possibly the only player who could beat Maria in the final - although I'm a bit worried that Elena Dementieva beat Hingis 6-2 6-0 in the Tokyo final right after Hingis beat Maria 6-3 6-1.
But there are so many nice players in the other half, including Tatiana Golovin, Maria Kirilenko, Sania Mirza, Anna Chakvetadze, Ana Ivanovic, Gisela Dulko and Karolina Šprem - how wonderful it would be if one of those girls broke through and reached the final!
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Second round (Friday 10th March)
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+ MARIA SHARAPOVA [3] d. Jamea Jackson, 6-4 6-3
Maria's match had a rain-delayed start on Friday. She had to be patient against Jamea Jackson in cold, windy conditions, winning 6-4 6-3 in 1h28m.
Maria: "I don't think, first match, you're going to play your best tennis. I hung in there and I served smart. She's a great mover out there, and she makes you play another ball, but I was ready for that.
"I'm working on my net game, you know, working on coming in, watching the ball better, you know, seeing the short balls, you know, coming in and trying to finish the points sooner, you know, not letting my opponent get another chance to get back in the point."
[Re. her shoulder-injury]
"It's getting better. It's definitely better than it was last year. I mean there's some days where, you know, it hurts a little bit. There are some days where it's perfect. You know, but I'm maintaining the pain."
Full interview:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=124801&page=8 (http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=124801&page=8)
-----------
Third round (Sunday 12th March)
-----------
+ MARIA SHARAPOVA [3] d. Lisa Raymond, 6-4 6-0
The match was played in cold, rainy conditions. Maria was wearing a sweatshirt and trousers (with a skirt, much to the criticism of the fashion-police), and her hands were cold.
Maria broke for *4-3 in the first set, then games went with serve until Maria served it out 6-4. Then she breezed through the second to win the match in 1h10m.
Maria: "I think I moved well, and I think towards the middle of the first set, I started moving a little bit better, and started running around my backhand and hitting a few extra forehands, just to get going."
She also said she's working on serve-and-volley. The complete interview is here:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showpost.php?p=7561210 (http://www.wtaworld.com/showpost.php?p=7561210)
This set up an intriguing fourth-round encounter against the strangely-attractive Shahar Peer. Shahar gets a lot of balls back, which is Maria's toughest type of opponent, and she took a set off Maria at Beijing 2005.
------------
Fourth round (Tuesday 14th March)
------------
+ MARIA SHARAPOVA [3] d. SHAHAR PEER [21], 7-6 (7/2) 6-1
Maria led 5-3* in the first set, but had to save a set-point at *5-6 before taking it on the tiebreak. Shahar broke in the first game of the second, but Maria reeled off six games in a row.
Maria: "I started off okay. I just tried to get used to her timing on our serve. It was a little bit difficult. She wasn't making a lot of first serves. The second serve kicked up pretty high. It took me a while to get used to that, try to attack it.
"As the match went on, I felt more confident about it. You know, should have taken my opportunity at 5-3, at 5-4, especially serving for the set. I don't think I should have let it go to a tiebreak.
"But a lot of players can play well when they're behind. That's just the way it is. They have nothing to lose. 3-1, then 5-3. They just start playing a lot better simply because they have nothing to lose. They're down a break.
"I guess that's when you need to be extra careful, because out of nowhere your opponent can start playing really well. It's important to close it out if you can."
Maria's full interview:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showpost.php?p=7576062 (http://www.wtaworld.com/showpost.php?p=7576062)
---------------------
Quarter-final preview (as I posted on jeldani at the time)
---------------------
Maria's next opponent is armed and extremely dangerous. Anna-Lena Grönefeld is on a winning-streak of 8 matches after winning her first-ever WTA singles-title at Acapulco, and was thrashing Maria 6-1 4-1* (with two break-points for *5-1) at Moscow 2005 when she [Grönefeld] sprained her ankle and had to retire at 4-2 (0/30).
Maria: "Yeah, I played Grönefeld last time in Moscow, very weird match. Unfortunately, she sprained her ankle. It will be a totally different match tomorrow. I was worried a lot about my injury in Moscow. I'm feeling a lot better about it this year. So hopefully, you know...
"She's a great player. She serves really big. That's one of her biggest strengths. I want to make sure I serve well and try to put pressure on her serve.
"She's had really good results last year. I think she played really solid tennis. Like I said, she's a tall girl and uses her height really well with big groundstrokes, a big serve. I think the big serve, if you can hold your serve, against many players, that works."
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Quarter-final (Wednesday 15th March)
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+ MARIA SHARAPOVA [3] d. ANNA-LENA GRÖNEFELD [7], 6-1 6-3
Maria's match was much easier than I expected. Grönefeld held serve in the first game, but Maria reeled off six games in a row to take the first set 6-1.
They exchanged breaks at the start of the second set (with Maria serving first), then games went with serve until Maria broke for 5-3 and served out the match in 1h20m.
Maria: "I thought I started off really well, and that was really, really important. From the beginning of the match, I didn't underestimate her serve or her big game. So I think I came out ready, ready for the challenge; it turned out well.
"I definitely stepped it up a little bit, especially when I needed to. I was a little patient in the end, which was important. You know, forced her to hit some errors in the end. But, yeah, I think that's also the little experience. I knew that she would come out having nothing to lose, so I had to be a little bit more patient, you know, just try to force the errors from her.
"[Defence is] one of the things that I'm working on. You know, I think a lot of that has to do with movement, physically feeling good out on the court. Especially in the beginning of the match, I felt like I was moving really well. I made her hit an extra shot, causing the error."
Maria's full interview:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showpost.php?p=7583231 (http://www.wtaworld.com/showpost.php?p=7583231)
------------------
Semi-final preview (as I posted on jeldani at the time)
------------------ [Maria v Martina Hingis]
Maria: "You're playing a great champion, someone that's obviously achieved a lot in her career. And she's still young. Any opponent that I see across the net, I cannot think about whether they're terrible or they're great. I can't put that in my mind.
"In Dubai, I basically took my opportunities, the ones that I had. In Tokyo, even when I felt like I could get back in the match, I didn't take my opportunities, made a few errors. I think I was more focused on the match in Dubai. I really tried not to worry about what my opponent was doing."
After what happened at Tokyo and what happened at Dubai, I think this is a 50-50 match.
One thing in Maria's favour is that it starts at 11:00 PST (19:00 GMT). Hingis admitted in her last press-conference <http://www.pacificlifeopen.com/ (http://www.pacificlifeopen.com/)> that she doesn't like playing in the morning.
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Semi-final (Friday 17th March)
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+ MARIA SHARAPOVA [3] d. MARTINA HINGIS [19][WC], 6-3 6-3
Ken Peters, AP Sports: "Sharapova dominated the match with powerful hard groundstrokes, hitting 29 winners to nine by the Swiss star".
Matthew Cronin, Reuters: "Sharapova gave a sterling performance against Hingis, wearing her opponent down in long rallies, attacking the Swiss player's second serves, and bullying her from the forehand side.
"Hingis tried to move the 18-year-old around the court but Sharapova, who was suffering with blisters, stayed in the points and put away any mid-court balls with aplomb.
"While she is known for her fist pumps and self-motivating yells, Sharapova was particularly fired up against Hingis, especially after a fan called out in the second set, saying that she was tired."
Agence France Presse: "However, the Swiss star's strategy of prolonging the rallies and wearing down her opponent sapped her own strength as well".
CEEFAX: "Hingis could not contain a pumped-up Sharapova, particularly on her own serve".
Dan23: "Maria had the wood on Martina in a lot of the long points, such intelligent play by Masha. She was patient and continued to place the ball perfectly. That point finished with the drop volley was a beauty".
Maria had two break-points in the opening game, but Hingis held. Maria then won five games in a row to lead 5-1*. She was unsuccessful serving for the set at 5-2 (when Hingis converted her first break-point of the match), but broke Hingis to take the first set 6-3 when Hingis hit a backhand wide.
In the second set, Maria jumped out to a *2-0 lead, was broken for 2-1*, but broke again for 4-1*. Hingis saved a break-point which would have given Maria *5-1, then broke back again, and Maria at 4-3* had a medical time-out for a blister on her sole.
Then Maria broke to love for *5-3 and served out a 6-3 6-3 victory when Hingis made two backhand errors - Maria won on her first match-point. The match took 1h38m - a long time for that score.
Maria really attacked Hingis's second serve - Hingis won only 37% of those points.
Maria now leads Hingis 2-1 head-to-head after losing their first-ever meeting (Tokyo Pan Pacific Open 2006).
Maria quotes
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"I don't think the scores showed anything, it was physically and mentally so challenging to play against her today. The score doesn't show how physically and mentally tough every point was. We were fighting for everything.
"The quality of the match was just great. It's good to see we can play these high-quality matches. She tried to mix it up a little at the end of the first set, and I knew it would be physically harder. Mentally, I told myself: 'It doesn't matter how many balls she gets, do everything possible to get one more ball back.'
"I was really ready today - I really was. I knew it was going to be tough; I didn't underestimate her level of play. I knew it was going to be a very tough match, and I need[ed] to be ready for it.
"I think [it's important] to see the opportunities when they come, especially on short balls, taking those opportunities, not letting her get back in the point. That's what she does great, you know, is getting a lot of balls back, seeing the ball and making you hit an extra shot.
"I think the level of tennis was definitely higher than I've played in the last few months. Thank God it just went my way. I think I played a great match in Australia in the semis, and it didn't go my way. So, you know, it was a good end to the day."
[Re. the spectator who yelled out "Martina, she's getting tired!"]
"That kind of pumped me up, and I hit two winners in a row. I looked back at [him] and I'm like, 'I'm tired, my butt.' So don't mess with a truck. You're going to become a pancake.
"The funny thing was, he started clapping for me after that. I think he got scared. Then when I was waving to that side [after winning], he's like <Maria mimics his sheepish wave>."
[Re. the final]
"I want to play Justine, because I lost to her the last two times."
Hingis quotes
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"She didn't really give me many chances. I tried to play defense, more offense. But I just didn't get many opportunities to really do too much with balls. I think I didn't do that badly. She was just better.
"She has good offense game. She pressure me in the beginning. She play really well. Compared to the other two matches, she definitely started off a lot better than the previous ones.
"For sure since 4-1 I started to play better. All these chances I had, and games I could have won, she won anyway. You've got to have the stamina.
"I won't have any regrets any more. No matter what happens now, I know I've come a far way. That was probably one of my biggest fears, to come back and disappoint. I haven't won a tournament yet, but I think I've already showed that I've still got some game.
"If someone told me, 'You're going to make the semifinals, beating Lindsay and Safina,' probably I would have signed the contract in the beginning of the week. But now that you've come that far, I wouldn't be a competitor if I be satisfied with getting there. You always just want to get more out of it.
"All I have to say is: she was just too good today, and I'm happy there is more tournaments coming up. I have to work on certain things, and try to get better till Miami."
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The Final
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* ELENA DEMENTIEVA [4] v MARIA SHARAPOVA [3] (DAVAI MARIA!!)
Maria and Elena are the first two Russians ever to reach an Indian Wells women's singles final (the first all-Russian WTA singles final since Moscow 2004). They have each won one Tier I title in their careers - both at the Tokyo Pan Pacific Open (Maria in 2005, Dementieva in 2006), so one of them will win her second Tier I today.
I was delighted when I saw that Dementieva had beaten Justine Henin-Hardenne 2-6 7-5 7-5 in the other semi-final (which was played after Maria's), not only because Dementieva is much prettier, sexier, and uses more hands on the racket than Henin, but because it removed the one player in the draw whom I didn't believe Maria would have beaten.
Maria should also be much fresher than Dementieva, who has won four of her five matches here in three sets while Maria has dropped no sets, and no more than seven games in any match. Dementieva has much less time to recover from a much tougher semi-final than Maria's (Dementieva's SF took 2h52m).
Maria leads Dementieva 3-1 head-to-head:
2003 Birmingham qf: Maria 2-6 7-6 6-2
2003 Shanghai qf: Dementieva 6-4 7-6
2004 Rome 2r: Maria 6-1 6-4
2004 Zurich sf: Maria 4-6 6-2 6-3
On paper, Maria is the clear favourite against the world #8, who is renowned for her weak serve which has produced 59(?) double faults this tournament. BBC senior commentator John Barrett once said of Maria, "If only Dementieva had this woman's serve!"
But I'm not taking anything for granted. A lot of finals in early 2006 have been won by the underdog, and Dementieva beat Hingis 6-2 6-0 in the Tokyo final right after Hingis had beaten Maria 6-3 6-1.
If Maria can hold serve reliably then she could win quite comfortably, but I get the feeling there could be a lot of breaks against both players in this match.
It's particularly important for Maria to go for a straight-sets win, especially if her blister is going to be a problem. Dementieva has an excellent record in third sets.
Dementieva: "I'm very proud to see another Russian final in a big event like this. And to play against Maria, it's going to be very interesting. I played her long ago, and she looks very powerful. She looks like one of the best players for the moment. It will be interesting for me."
Order of play for Saturday
--------------------------
Stadium 1 (start 11:30 PST = 19:30 GMT)
1. MS sf: ROGER FEDERER [1] v Paradorn Srichaphan
|
(not before 14:30 PST = 22:30 GMT)
2. WS f: ELENA DEMENTIEVA [4] v MARIA SHARAPOVA [3]
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(not before 16:30 PST = 00:30 GMT)
3. MS sf: James Blake v RAFAEL NADAL [2]
4. MD f: BOB BRYAN/MIKE BRYAN [1] v MARK KNOWLES/DANIEL NESTOR [3]
--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/ (http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/)
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/ (http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/)
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/shara/ (http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/shara/)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sizzlingsharapova/ (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sizzlingsharapova/)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jeldani/ (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jeldani/)