Sharapova Edges Aussie Stosur in Tokyo
Posted on October 7, 2004Top-seeded Maria Sharapova, enjoying her tour of tournaments where she is the lone Top 30 player, was almost tripped up at the WTA stop in Tokyo Wednesday, defeating Aussie qualifier Sam Stosur 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
"I came here to win and didn't want to lose early, so I'm relieved to have that first win," Sharapova said. "All in all, it was a very tough match."
No. 7 Klara "Kouky" Koukalova (d. Kurhajcova) was the only other seeded winner, with two seeds ousted in No. 2 Tatiana Golovin (l. to fellow teen (WC) Nicole Vaidisova in three) and (4) Kristina "You're a Fine Girl" Brandi (l. to the red-hot Mashona Washington).
Other un-seeds into the quarterfinals were Russian Evgenia Linetskaya (d. (WC) Fujiwara), Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn (d. Craybas), Hungarian Aniko Kapros (d. (Q) Sesil "The Mouth" Karatantcheva), and French qualifier Youlia Fedossova (d. Morigami).
On tap for Thursday are (1) Sharapova vs. (Q) Fedossova, Tanasugarn vs. Kapros, Linetskaya vs. Mashona "Little Sis" Washington, and (7) Klara "Kouky" Koukalova vs. (WC) Vaidisova in an all-Czech.
"I came here to win and didn't want to lose early, so I'm relieved to have that first win," Sharapova said. "All in all, it was a very tough match."
No. 7 Klara "Kouky" Koukalova (d. Kurhajcova) was the only other seeded winner, with two seeds ousted in No. 2 Tatiana Golovin (l. to fellow teen (WC) Nicole Vaidisova in three) and (4) Kristina "You're a Fine Girl" Brandi (l. to the red-hot Mashona Washington).
Other un-seeds into the quarterfinals were Russian Evgenia Linetskaya (d. (WC) Fujiwara), Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn (d. Craybas), Hungarian Aniko Kapros (d. (Q) Sesil "The Mouth" Karatantcheva), and French qualifier Youlia Fedossova (d. Morigami).
On tap for Thursday are (1) Sharapova vs. (Q) Fedossova, Tanasugarn vs. Kapros, Linetskaya vs. Mashona "Little Sis" Washington, and (7) Klara "Kouky" Koukalova vs. (WC) Vaidisova in an all-Czech.