Eye Candy Sharapova Muddles Through at WTA Montreal

Posted on August 5, 2004

Teen queen Maria "Grunt-o-rama" Sharapova overcame some erratic play Wednesday at the WTA stop in Montreal to beat Kristina "You're a Fine Girl" Brandi of Puerto Rico 6-1, 6-4 in her opening match at the Rogers Cup.

The largest crowd of the week turned out to see the 17-year-old Sharapova, who did not disappoint.

"It was a little bit up and down," Sharapova said. "I never expect to play my best tennis in my first match, but I did everything I had to do to win."

Sharapova said her Wimbledon success has definitely put her on the map with even the casual tennis fan.

"I've got so many more supporters and so many more fans and a lot more people know me now," Sharapova said. "It's not so easy walking down the street any more. That's what happens when you win, and I love to win."

Sharapova will next face countrywoman Vera Zvonareva.

"She's very tough, very hungry," said Sharapova, who has split two previous meetings with Zvonareva.

No. 4-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva was the highest-seeded fatality Wednesday at Montreal, punished 6-1, 6-4 by Argen-teen 19-year-old Gisela "Sgt." Dulko, whose previous claim to fame was beating Martina Navratilova twice this year.

"I played well from the baseline and served pretty well," Dulko said. "That was the key to match...She's the best ranked player I've ever beat, so it's one of the best wins of my career."

Seeds advancing into the third round were (3)Anastasia Myskina (d. Parra Santonja), (9)Paola Suarez (d. Jankovic), (10)Vera "Warren" Zvonareva (d. (Q)Mattek), (11)Francesca Schiavone (d. Dechy), (13)Maggie Maleeva (d. Martina "Nurse, I Need a" Sucha in three), (14)Elena "Lena" Bovina (d. (Q)Osterloh), and (15)Chanda Rubin (d. (Q)Mashona "Little Sis" Washington).

Two other un-seeds bullied their way into the third round with seeded upsets in Russian Elena Likhovtseva (d. countrywoman (8)Petrova in three), and French teen Tatiana Golovin (d. (16)Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga in three).

On court Thursday are (14)Elena "Lena" Bovina vs. (2)Mauresmo, (5)Capriati vs. Pierce, (3)Myskina vs. (15)Rubin, (6)Maria "Grunt-o-licious" Sharapova vs. (10)Vera "Warren" Zvonareva in an all-Russian, (7)Sugiyama vs. (12)Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem, (13)Maleeva vs. (9)Suarez, (11)Schiavone vs. Likhovtseva, and a teen standoff in Golovin vs. Gisela "Sgt." Dulko.

Results Newsflash!
Due to the WTA Tour's inept scheduling, running the Tier IV Stockholm event during the same week as an "elite" Tier I Montreal event, Tennis-X is voluntarily aiding the WTA this week by not running results from Stockholm. We hope this will help to elevate the Montreal results in the eyes of casual fans and avoid confusion, while at the same time shielding fans from the heinous field in Stockholm. We apologize for having to do the WTA's job in raising the status of their Tier I events, and apologize to you diehard Tier IV fans. Future note: Tier I = good, Tier IV = public park event, don't put them in the same calendar slot.

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
Fans at the Masters Series-Cincinnati eventually got their money's worth Wednesday when, after roughly a seven-hour rain delay, seven former No. 1 players took to the court in a full evening session.

Into the third round were former No. 1s (2)Andy Roddick (d. Kiefer), (4)Carlos "Gun Show" Moya (d. Ljubicic in three), (10)Lleyton Hewitt (d. former No. 1 Kuerten), (11)Andre Agassi (d. T.Johansson 6-1 in the third), and (14)Marat Safin (d. (WC)Jeff "The Lizard King" Morrison).

"You get more experienced at not getting overly concerned about things you can't control," said the 34-year-old Agassi on dealing with three rain delays. "The good news is that both guys have to deal with it."

Roddick brought the crowd to its feet in his match with a trick shot while retrieving a lob in the back court.

"I was going to go between my legs, but I couldn't get there in time. So I just flailed at it," Roddick said. "I didn't really see it, but I saw people clapping. It was probably the best shot I ever hit, or the luckiest. It felt pretty cool, but I didn't realize it was that drastic."

Other seeds in the winner's circle were (5)Tim Henman (d. Arazi in three) and (15)Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan (d. Schalken).

On the poor end of the upset tip were (7)Juan Carlos Ferrero (l. to Spanish countryman Robredo in three), and French Open winner and non-hardcourt aficionado (9)Gaston Gaudio (l. to (Q)"Grinning" Greg Rusedski in three).

Other un-seeds into the third round were (LL)Wayne Arthurs (d. Zabaleta), France's Fabrice "The Original Wizard" Santoro (d. Youzhny), Swedes Robin Soderling (d. Luis "Me So" Horna) and Jonas Bjorkman (d. Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty in three, which nulls that Federer win), German former No. 2 (WC)Tommy Haas (d. Sargsian), Croatian qualifier "Dr." Ivo Karlovic (d. Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez), and Argentina's Juan Ignacio "Just Say No" Chela (d. Fernando "The Flayin' Chilean" Gonzalez in three).

On court Thursday are Bjorkman vs. The Original Wizard, (LL)Arthurs vs. (4)Gun Show, (15)The Thai Fighter vs. (2)Roddick, Chela vs. (11)Agassi, (Q)"Dr." Ivo vs. (14)Safin, (Q)Grinning Greg vs. Robredo, (10)Hewitt vs. (5)Henman, and (WC)Haas vs. Soderling.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
The German Olympic Committee has decided to exclude the country's top two female tennis players from the upcoming Athens Olympics, prompting talk of an Olympic tennis boycott. Anca Barna and Marlene Weingartner met the qualifying criteria set forth by the International Tennis Federation, but the duo failed to qualify under the German committee's standards which included a semifinal berth in a Grand Slam event or reaching the finals of a Tier I event. ATP player Florian Mayer did not meet the German criteria as well, but he was granted an exception following his quarterfinal performance at Wimbledon. The WTA says that ruling is unfair and has called on both the ITF and IOC to pressure the German committee to allow Barna and Weingartner into the tournament. French player Nathalie Dechy told the Globe and Mail: "We discussed the matter at a players' meeting Monday and I think there is a real chance of a boycott."...Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty says it's good to practice with the top players: "(Roger Federer and I) practice a lot of times, and he never really beat me in practice also. You know, practice different. But I knew that my game he just doesn't like too much because it's maybe too fast for him. He has great hands. Then probably he doesn't have time, you know, to get you running all over the court and making big shots."...How important is the Athens Olympics to world No. 1 Roger Federer?: "I said that my three goals of the year are No. 1 in the world, Wimbledon, to defend that title, and the Olympics. So I guess this year the Olympics are more important than US Open. But once the Olympics are over, I want to win US Open as badly as Olympics, you know."...Tim Henman on his last Olympics: "I, you know, did a bit of everything. You know, I went to the swimming a few times, I went to the athletics, I watched quite a lot of hockey. We went to, I think, the gymnastics just briefly. You know, it's not always -- sometimes it's not always easy just to get there, the tickets to watch the events that you do. But, you know, I think any event where there's, you know, the best in the world are competing, it's -- you know, the gold medal is at stake, it's pretty exciting to go and watch. I'll make sure I take advantage again."...Craig Boynton, who retired in 1996 as Jim Courier's coach to work as a teaching pro in Cincinnati, returned last summer to coach American Jeff "The Lizard King" Morrison. The Lizard King missed five months last year with a torn stomach muscle, and eight weeks this year with a herniated disk...Nicolas Kiefer has found the key to success in not caring: "I'm a totally different player than five, six months ago. At that stage, I was just playing and thinking too much...I had no expectations. When I came to L.A., I didn't practice for two weeks, and I played a final there. I think I'm playing good tennis right now, but there's always room to improve."...Guillermo "El Fragile" Coria has pulled from the Athens Olympics, citing his right shoulder injury...Hey WTA, those media results sent in the middle of the next day this week during Montreal are real helpful...We're sorry, ESPN's Patrick McEnroe, for dogging you on your mouth-foaming commentating zeal over your boy Andy Roddick -- we admit that you equally wet your pants on air over the freak-like shotmaking and talent of Roger Federer...Israel's Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi will compete at the Olympics after a sponsor bru-haha, electing to wear a shirt with no sponsorship markings. It took three weeks to figure that out?...Here's the AP "tennis writer" in Cincinnati: "Greg Rusedski beat French Open champion Gaston Gaudio 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4. It was an unusually early ending for Gaudio, a finalist in four of his past five tournaments." Yeah, except Gaudio is a dirtballer who admittedly doesn't like hardcourts, get with the program...Richard Krajicek said he almost skipped Wimbledon the year he won the title: "I didn't like grass at all. I had lost in the first round two years in a row and I thought 'Why torture myself on grass?' I thought I would rather miss Wimbledon and go on holiday, and then play on the hardcourts (in the U.S.). Then I thought, 'You know, I'll go to Wimbledon, and then maybe when I go on holiday afterwards, I'll have a better feeling.' I did. I had part of the game to play on grass -- I had a great serve and volley game and I would hardly lose my serve, but my return was very bad. It was not a great shot anyway, and on grass I found it extra tough. That's what was so frustrating -- I would win my serve easily but I couldn't break the other guy's serve...I relaxed more (on the return of serve), I started returning well and that was the key to my success -- my serve and volley game was always good, but it was my return game that basically won the tournament for me."...Former ATP player coach Gavin Hopper is today in jail awaiting sentence for a four-year sexual affair with a Melbourne schoolgirl amid new allegations of a secret payout to another of his former students, according to the New Zealand Herald...Round robin results Wednesday from the ATP senior tour event in Portugal were Richard Krajicek d. Mikael Pernfors, Emilio Sanchez d. Mats Wilander, Jim Courier d. Henri Leconte, and Michael Stich d. Joao Cunha Silva in three. Today's matches feature Cunha Silva vs. Pernfors, Leconte vs. E.Sanchez, Wilander vs. Courier in a first-time meeting between former No. 1s, and Stich vs. Krajicek.