Serena Wins Ugly, Agassi Passes on Masters Cup Benchwarming
Posted on November 12, 2004
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| Maria Sharapova notched her first win over Svetlana Kuznetsova at the WTA Championships. (WTA) |
It can't be easy for former No. 1 Serena Williams, struggling to get back into tennis shape, and seeing countrywoman Lindsay Davenport battering 0-and-1 an opponent that the younger Williams sister barely edges 7-6(3), 7-5.
That was the case Thursday at the WTA Championships, where Serena put on another sloppy, tired-looking display, this time defeating Russian Elena Dementieva. Serena, now 2-0 in round robin play, defeated Anastasia Myskina in he first match, fortunate enough to come back from a set and 0-3 down after the wiry Russian did her customary throat-clutch dance.
Hand it to Serena, who is finding ways to win.
"It's better than yesterday, that's for sure," said Williams, who committed 37 unforced errors, and couldn't take consistent advantage of the mind-numbingly bad serve of Dementieva. "It's just really hard to get it out there and get it right. I had a really good effort, even though I didn't make all the shots...I'm a perfectionist, I'm insatiable."
No. 2 seed Amelie Mauresmo also raised her round robin record to 2-0 with a 1-and-0 spanking of the hapless Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva, who put on her customary racquet-smashing waterworks display during the loss. The Russian Championships-rookie appeared out of gas both physically and emotionally after an exhausting late-season run that saw her qualify in the last position.
"Sometimes not everything works," said The Crying Game, face streaked with tears after the loss. "It was lots of pressure. Maybe that is why I couldn't do one hundred percent. But I was fighting."
Mauresmo's winning streak is now up to nine matches, including titles in Liz and Philadelphia.
The Championship's tennis-porn poster child, Maria Sharapova, made her debut in spectacular fashion, trouncing countrywoman Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-4, concluded with an icy handshake at the net.
Sharapova entered the match with an 0-3 record against the current US Open title holder.
"In Beijing, she was coming off such a big winning streak (14 matches) and she was unstoppable," Sharapova said of Kuznetsova. "This time, it was important to start off well and put some pressure on her."
There was no love lost between the American-raised marketer's dream Sharapova and the hard-scrabble old-school Soviet-appearing Kuznetsova, who after the loss went to the popular she-didn't-win-as-much-as-I-lost card.
"I didn't serve well," Kuznetsova said. "She was returning pretty good, but I let her do this. She was putting pressure on me all the time."
On tap for Friday are Davenport vs. Myskina in a must-win for the Russian to stay in contention, Sharapova vs. Zvonareva, who has already been eliminated from qualifying for the semis, and Mauresmo vs. Kuznetsova.
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
The Desert Sun's Leighton Ginn has no problem with the WTA marketing Maria Sharapova like a porn star at the WTA Championships, and in fact says bring on the young girls: "Sharapova was wearing tennis clothes and there's nothing in the ad that you wouldn't see on the tennis court as far as attire. And in this society, many major corporations use models who are under 18 to sell their products. The only other player on the tour that has the sex appeal and name recognition is Serena Williams, but she didn't qualify for the tournament until last weekend, which was not enough time for an ad campaign. Certainly, if the 23-year-old Williams was available early enough, they would have used her, and no matter how sexy the ad would be, they would have gotten less backlash." Perhaps that's why the WTA sanctioned Serena in the tutu Wednesday night, to kill the sexy motif for anyone watching...Lots of empty seats on TV at the WTA Championships again this year, how is this event staying in L.A. year after year? Just a matter of time until the Championships, like the Masters Cup, is shipped off to Asia where all the cash is...As expected, U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe named Andy Roddick, Mardy "Silver" Fish and the Bryan brothers for the D-Cup final at Spain: "Playing against a Spanish team that includes two former world No. 1 players and two French Open champions on a claycourt before 15,000 fans is the ultimate challenge and test for our team," P-Mac said. "Nothing would be sweeter and more satisfying than to win the Davis Cup in this environment and our guys are certainly excited about the opportunity that is in front of them." Good luck not getting blanked 5-0. Pat Mac questionably picked Fish over Vince Spadea, who is on top of his game, higher ranked and whose style of play is clearly better suited for the red clay...Spanish captain and former player Jordi Arrese on the Davis Cup final versus the U.S.: "The most important thing is that our guys are at their best because they're the best on clay and, with all due respect, we shouldn't have to worry at all about who's coming (from the U.S. team)."...Patrick Rafter took his turn at leveling against countryman Mark Philippoussis, saying he needs "to pull his finger out and actually commit to the game." Said the former No. 1 on Flipper: "He has never really committed himself strongly to the game and we have seen the talent and how good he is but he keeps letting himself down. And as you get older, we know how hard it is." So Andre Agassi will not show up as the alternate for the Masters Cup, to be replaced by Guillermo Canas. What a shocker, we didn't see that coming -- can't picture last year's finalist not wanting to sit for a week watching Gaston Gaudio struggle on the hardcourts while sitting next to tournament promoter Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale and hearing about the virtues of four more years of the George W. Bush administration.