Mauresmo, Safin Advance to Sunday Finals
Posted on November 7, 2004
Mauresmo Walks Into WTA Philadelphia FinalWorld No. 2 Amelie Mauresmo, seeking to pass No. 1 Lindsay Davenport next week at the WTA Championships, received a hand Saturday in Philadelphia with a walkover against Russian marketing dream Maria "Cell Phone Mannequin" Sharapova in the semifinals.
Sharapova pulled prior to the match with an existing shoulder injury aggravated in the quarterfinals against Aussie rising star Alicia Molik.
"I'm very disappointed I am not able to continue my play in Philadelphia," said Sharapova, who is hoping to rehab the shoulder to strength in time to compete at next week's WTA Championships in L.A. "I was having a really good tournament and I'm sure it will still be an exciting final weekend. I just wish I could be a part of it."
It would have been the first meeting between Mauresmo and Sharapova, with their debut encounter now likely to occur at the year-end championships. Sharapova first sustained the shoulder injury at the Swisscom Challenge in Zurich two weeks ago.
In the final Mauresmo will face No. 6 seed Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva, who defeated countrywoman and No. 7 seed Nadia Petrova 6-3, 7-6(2), and has already qualified for the year-end championships.
Petrova won her lone meeting with Zvonareva at the 2003 French Open in three sets.
The doubles final will be (3) Molik/Raymond vs. (1) Huber/Morariu.
American Spears Shoots for First Hit Single at WTA Quebec City
American qualifier Abigail Spears will attempt to win her first career WTA title in her first career final at Quebec City Sunday when she faces fellow un-seed Martina Sucha.
Spears edged Russian Alina Jidkova 7-6 in the third in the semifinals, while Sucha also won a coin toss against Maria-Emilia Salerni 7-6 in the third.
Sucha is ranked No. 80, and won her lone title in 2002 at Hobart.
It will be the first meeting between Spears and the Slovak Sucha.
The doubles final will be Gullickson/Salerni vs. Callens/Stosur.
Safin Seeking Second Consecutive Masters Series Title in ATP Paris Final
Hot-handed Russian Marat Safin will attempt to become one of the few players to win back-to-back ATP Masters Series titles Sunday in Paris when he squares off against qualifier Radek Stepanek.
The No. 6-seeded Safin, who overcame a twisted ankle early in the match, defeated No. 13 Guillermo Canas 6-2, 7-6(5), while the Czech Stepanek outlasted fellow qualifier Max "The Beast" Mirnyi 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-4.
While Safin has posted a sparkling 12-2 record including a title at the Masters Series-Madrid during the European indoor season, most conspicuous has been the records of the other Masters Cup qualifiers due to injury or disinterest: world No. 1 Roger Federer with an 0-0 win-loss, Carlos Moya 0-0, Guillermo Coria 0-0, and Andy Roddick 1-1.
Canas has risen from a No. 274 ranking in January to crack the Top 15, returning from a wrist injury.
"I managed to stay in the match and it was very close. It was all up to a couple of points and it's a pity some of them were disputable," Canas said.
Stepanek has won three doubles titles this year, but is still seeking his career-first singles title.
A win Sunday would put Safin in league with Boris Becker as the only players to win three titles at the event formerly known at the Paris-indoor.
The doubles final will be Zimbabwe's unseeded Black/Ullyett vs. (3) Bjorkman/Woodbridge.
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After getting outlasted in three sets by Amelie Mauresmo in Philly, Venus Williams brought out the old "She didn't win -- I lost" defense mechanism patented by dad Richard Williams and impressed on his daughters: "It was a story of my errors," Venus said. "She definitely can't hit me off the court but I'm always putting play forward which is my style of play but I made too many errors. I think next time I'll be ready."...The WTA Tour media staff dropped the ball again. On Friday, losses by Venus Williams and Jennifer Capriati handed the last two WTA Championship spots to Serena Williams and Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva, but the WTA made no formal announcement other that a sentence buried in a tournament review on their website. As of Saturday at noon (EST), still no announcement. Is it any mystery why tennis does not makes the sports news in the U.S.? Put a little effort into it. To their credit the WTA did get a release out around 2 p.m. Saturday, about 16 hours after the event -- way to roll out of bed late and write that press release. The final field for the "Russian WTA Championships," with over half the field from the new center of tennis dominance: Lindsay Davenport, Amelie Mauresmo, Anastasia Myskina, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Dementieva, Maria Sharpova, Serena and Zvonareva...And what of the fallen Americans? Venus Williams has never won the WTA Championships, competing in 1999 (l. to Martina Hingis in SF) and 2002 (l. to Kim Clijsters in SF). Jennifer Capriati has also never won the Championships title in seven tries, losing in 1990 (l. to Steffi Graf R16), 1991 (l. to Gabriela Sabatini QF), 1992 (l. to Sabatini QF), 2000 (l. to Anna Kournikova R16), 2001 (l. to Sandrine "Test Tube" Testud QF), 2002 (l. to Serena Williams SF), and last year (l. to Clijsters SF)...Best headline of the weekend from the Sofia News Agency: "Slovakian Beats Bulgarian Tennis Gal"...Go to the WTA Tour website, and get a load of the "Two Spots Left!" graphic for their WTA Championship section (as of Saturday night). FYI: The final eight was decided two days ago. Time to hire a web person...Results Saturday at the senior stop in Brussels in round robin play were Guy Forget d. Filip Dewulf, Henri Leconte d. Thomas Muster in three, Pat Cash d. Mikael Pernfors in three, and Jim Courier d. Richard Krajicek. Sunday's final will be Courier vs. Forget...The winner at this year's WTA Championships will take home $1 million smacks...Roger Federer helped the U.N. Friday launch the International Year of Sport: "I've never done something like this, so I'm rather nervous. Sport has given me so much throughout my career. It's a great lesson in my life. It puts you together. You win or you lose. You have to have respect for your opponent, because your opponent might be your friend."...Do a web search and see how many stories you find on Jennifer Capriati choking against Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva this week in Philly, winning one game. You'll find none. Nice job tennis media...Second-best headline of the weekend from The Age: "Paris proves perfect hideaway for Hewitt" Paris, France, or tour-player hideaway Paris, Hilton?