Serena Wins in First Tournament Back at Miami
Posted on April 5, 2004
Wearing her white diaper and sports bra ensemble, Serena Williams punished Russian Elena Dementieva 6-1, 6-1 Saturday for the Nasdaq-100 Open Miami title in her first tournament back after an eight-month layoff following knee surgery."I think the rust has definitely worn off," Serena said. "Honestly, I didn't expect to win my first tournament back."
Dementieva failed to hold serve once, kicking in nine double faults.
"I'm going to work on my serve and improve my game," Dementieva said. "She's a great player, and it's just amazing how well she played after this break...I feel like I was tired today on the court and couldn't move as well as I can. So it was difficult, you know, to be on the court today for me."
The title makes a total of three for Serena at Miami, joining her sister Venus with three. Serena will now head to the claycourts in Amelia Island, Florida, where she will compete against world No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne.
In the doubles semifinal played Saturday, (6)Petrova/Shaughnessy beat China's Li/Sun. On Sunday the No. 6 seeds will face No. 2-seeded Russians Kuznetsova/Likhovtseva in the final.
Roddick Lines Up Coria in Masters Series-Miami Final
On Sunday Andy Roddick will bring his blistering serve to bear on the diminutive Guillermo Coria in the final of the Masters Sereis-Miami final.
Roddick said that he and coach Brad Gilbert will sometime before the final have talked strategy in taking on Coria.
"Brad and I don't really have sit-down grind sessions on someone," Roddick said. "It will be -- we'll be in the middle of a conversation tonight, talking about the food or whatever and Brad will be, 'Okay, this guy...' Then he'll make one statement. I'll accept it. Then, you know, he'll ramble on about something else for 25 minutes. Then, 'Okay, this guy...' And then back to Raider football. So it might come up tonight; it might not. There's no real set time in our little world, I guess."
Coria says he will rely on his grinding style, and try to make Rodick hit a lot of balls.
"I'm going to fight very hard every point, Roddick is going to have to earn it," Coria said. "It was very important to win this match, to come back in this match. I feel pretty good about that. I also am still pretty hot about my loss against Roddick in Houston."
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Guillermo Coria (ARG) vs. Andy Roddick (USA)
Roddick Leads 2-0
2002 Houston, Clay, SF Roddick 6-3, 2-6, 6-2
2003 Masters Cup, Hard, RR, Roddick 6-3, 6-7, 6-3
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In the Saturday doubles final, (8)Wayne Black/Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe defeated (3)Jonas Bjorkman/Todd Woodbridge 6-2, 7-6(12) for their first title of the year after coming off a runner-up effort at the MS-Indian Wells.
"We were a bit too slow, didn't make enough first serves," Bjorkman said. "We sort of had to dig really deep to find a way of coming back. Then once we did that, we had opportunities to get back in the match and go to the third set. But we sort of didn't really play the right shots at the right time on the set points."
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NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Elena Dementieva says her horrible serve resulted from an injury: "I had a problem with my shoulder and I used to play for a long time with an injured shoulder. That kind of serve, the slice serve, that's the only thing I could do, you know. That's just begin to be a habit for me, a bad habit."...Serena says the win at Miami wasn't about the opponent, it was all about her: "I just came out and just wanted to win every match or just win every point. I never looked to see who I played in the next round. I just wanted to do me. I think I was able to do that."...Serena likes the fact that Martina Navratilova will be competing in singles next week at Amelia Island: "Oh, good. I don't blame her. If you can do it, you should do it. You know, she's just an unbelievable athlete, unbelievable person. And, you know, I think she'll win a few rounds...When I'm 48, I hope I can be standing, let alone competing on a professional level with such professional athletes. It's gonna be good, so I'm excited."...Joachim Johansson will miss Sweden's Davis Cup match against the U.S. next week because of a strained shoulder. Johansson was expected to play doubles with Jonas Bjorkman, and will likely be replaced in doubles by Thomas Johansson...Martina Navratilova will play Puerto Rico's Kristina Brandi in the first round at Amelia Island next week.