Sharapova Again Falls to a Russian at WTA Montreal

Posted on August 6, 2004

The seeds went head-to-head Thursday at the WTA stop in Montreal with six all-seeded matches, and three upsets in (10)Vera "Warren" Zvonareva taking out Russian countrywoman (6)Maria "Grunt-o-rama" Sharapova in three, (12)Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem upending (7)Ai Sugiyama, and veteran (13)Maggie Maleeva ousting (9)Paola Suarez.

"She played well and I think it was a very good match," Sharapova said. "I didn't play that bad."

It was the second consecutive week of losing to a countrywoman for Sharapova, who last week in San Diego fell to French Open winner Anastasia Myskina.

Sharapova will not go on to play the Olympics as her standing among the other Russians was too low when the acceptance list was determined pre-Wimbledon.

Winners in matches sticking to the seeded hierarchy were (2)Amelie Mauresmo (d. (14)Bovina in three), (3)Anastasia Myskina (d. (15)Rubin), and (5)Jennifer Capriati (d. (17)Pierce).

"It was a big battle," said Mauresmo after outlasting the Russian Bovina. "In the second set, I missed a couple of chances to break her serve and I got frustrated. I thought I can't go on like this, so I was able to refocus and come back."

Un-seeds advancing were Russian Elena Likhovtseva (d. (11)Schiavone), and French teen Tatiana Golovin (d. Gisela "Sgt." Dulko in three).

Friday's quarterfinals in Montreal line up as (12)The Spreminator vs. (2)Mauresmo, (5)Capriati vs. Likhovtseva, (10)Vera "Warren" Zvonareva vs. the 16-year-old Golovin, and (3)Myskina vs. (13)Maleeva.

Stockholm Results
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
Five former No. 1s advanced into the eight quarterfinal spots at the Masters Series-Cincinnati Thursday, again led by homecountry fan favorites defending champ (2)Andy Roddick (d. (15)Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan) and (11)Andre Agassi (d. (17)Chela).

"I don't think (Srichaphan) had a good day," Roddick said after not facing a break point. "He didn't show what a good player he really is. He definitely had one of those off-days."

The erratic Chela looked to Babolat Agassi into submission, but the American survived an almost un-watchably ugly confrontation in the night match-up.

Also surviving were former top-spotters (4)Carlos Moya (d. (LL)Arthurs 7-6 in the third), (10)Lleyton Hewitt (d. (5)Henman), and (14)Marat Safin (d. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic in three).

"I'm happy, not with the way I'm playing, but the way I'm surviving," said Moya, who won his third consecutive three-setter.

Un-seeds into the quarterfinals were Fabrice "The Original Wizard" Santoro (d. Bjorkman), Spaniard Tommy Robredo (d. (Q)Rusedski in two tiebreaks), and (WC)Tommy Haas (d. Soderling in three).

On today for the quarterfinals are (2)Roddick vs. (WC)Haas (German leads career meetings 4-0), (4)Moya vs. (11)Agassi in a battle of former No. 1s (Agassi leads 2-1), (10)Hewitt vs. (14)Safin in a battle of former No. 1s (tied 4-4), and The Original Wizard vs. Robredo in an all-unseeded (Robredo leads 3-0).

The doubles quarters will be (3)Knowles/Nestor vs. the "Indian Express" (8)Bhupathi/Paes, (1)Bjorkman/Woodbridge vs. Chileans Gonzalez/Massu, Max "The Beast" Mirnyi/Sargsian vs. Erlich/Ram, and Frenchmen (4)Llodra/Santoro vs. Palmer/Vizner.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Lleyton Hewitt is now 8-0 career versus Tim Henman...The ATP is advertising an open position on its website, Editorial Intern, or, 'The CEO makes half a million but your will make nothing.' The ATP is looking for an unpaid intern to do some grunt work on their media guide during the last four months of the year. If you've got thousands in the bank to get yourself through four months in Ponte Vedra, Florida, apply at the ATP website...Germany's Marlene Weingartner says the German Tennis Federation and the WTA aren't even close to resolving the possible Olympics boycott dispute: "There is great solidarity between us, we stick together. Thirty players including (Amelie) Mauresmo, (Paola) Suarez, (Elena) Dementieva and (Anastasia) Myskina met with the WTA boss (Larry Scott) and me," she told the German sports news agency SID. "We tried to find a solution. A boycott of the Olympics by the women players is an option which will be discussed. My colleagues also believe that we have not been treated fairly. I have said that the Olympic Games should be something special and that the players should play, regardless of in what conditions. And the WTA believes that a boycott would not be in the interest of women's tennis. Another option to a boycott would be that there would be no world rankings points awarded at the Olympics. I hope that my dream of playing in the Olympics will still be fulfilled. The WTA, the ITF and the IOC are trying to persuade the German Olympic Committee to name me in the team."...Andy Roddick meanwhile says he would be no part of supporting the women or other men players with a boycott: "If people want to boycott, that's fine with me. I'm closer to the gold. My issue isn't with someone else's federation. That seems like it has nothing to do with me. It's not my federation. That's not really my issue. That sounds like someone's personal battle." Way to support the team Andy...Carlos Moya says there are talks going on with the men since it looks like Dutchman "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter may be kept from participating in the games by the Dutch federation, even though he qualifies: "We're still discussing what's going to happen in the next days," Moya said. "For sure, there's going to be a decision, but I cannot talk about this because there is not any decision taken yet. The thing is that the guy deserves to be there and he is not going to be there. That's the main point. We're still talking about that to find a fair solution for everybody." See that Andy? You stick by your team...How is that U.S. Olympic men's team looking?: Mardy Fish (back injury), Taylor Dent (strained right calf), Vince Spadea (back injury)...U.S. women's Olympic captain Zina Garrison says the Williams sisters are still a go for Athens: "They've both been working hard and doing their rehab. I've actually spoken directly to Serena, and she's fine. As far as Venus, I've spoken to her agent and one of her sisters. They are both still looking forward to going."...Jim Courier (d. Wilander) and Richard Krajicek (d. Stich), both appearing in their first ATP senior tour event this week in Portugal, qualified for the final against each other with round robin wins Thursday. "We've played on every court surface, I've only ever won once, so he owns me," Krajicek said of Courier. "I hope to change that in the final. It's going to be difficult but I'm serving well so maybe I can win a few games." John McEnroe is sitting out the Portugal event, nursing an injured shoulder...An 18-year-old Russian male who jumped onto the court to invite Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova and Vera Zvonareva to dinner was stopped by security guards at Montreal Thursday night, according to the AP. Jim Anderson, head of security for the event, said the spectator was "a goofy kid" who intended no harm to the players.