Sharapova, Mauresmo Roll While Serena Struggles at WTA Championships

Posted on November 12, 2004

Maria Sharapova was in touch with her game in L.A. last night. (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.