Henin Wins Debut; Sharapova, Serena, Venus Bake Bagels at WTA Miami

Posted on March 26, 2005

The top players played bakers Friday at the WTA Tour stop in Miami, handing out bagels left and right en route to advancing into the third round of play at the Nasdaq-100 Open.

Leading the charge were defending Wimbledon champion and No. 2 seed Maria Sharapova (d. Daniilidou, bagel in the first), No. 3 Serena Williams (d. Douchevina, bagel in the second), and former No. 1 and current No. 8 seed Venus Williams (d. Groenefeld, bagel in the second) who is looking to reassert herself as a threat to the top spot.

"I would say that was probably one of my best matches of the year," Venus said. "I was saying earlier the other day, this week, that I'm definitely getting a better rhythm with my whole game, so that's what counts."

Other seeded winners Friday were Aussie (7) Alicia Molik (d. countrywoman Pratt), (11) Patty Schnyder (d. Peschke), (14) Francesca Schiavone (d. Shaughnessy 7-6 in the third), (15) Elena Likhovtseva (d. Chladkova), former No. 1 (19) Justine Henin-Hardenne (d. Spears), Japan's (21) Ai Sugiyama (d. Craybas) and (23) Shinobu Asagoe (d. Jidkova 7-6 in the third), (25) Fabiola Zuluaga (d. Medina Garrigues), and (29) Gisela Dulko (d. Brandi in three, bagel in the second).

"It feels very good, even if it's still hard at the beginning to find the rhythm and everything," said Henin-Hardenne after her first match of 2005, coming off a virus and knee injury. "But just the fact that I'm back on the courts, it's great. That's the only thing that's really important for myself today after seven months that I've been off the court."

Last year Henin-Hardenne won four of her first five events before being struck down with the energy-sapping virus at the beginning of the claycourt season at Amelia Island.

"I lost a lot of confidence last year when there were days I couldn't get up," Henin-Hardenne said. "That's been very hard. It's been ups and downs. Mentally, it was very, very difficult. Fortunately I got a lot of support from my family, my coach, my friends. That helped me a lot with this experience. But it's been really, really hard."

After Amelia Island the Belgian played only three more events, losing early at the French and US Opens, but miraculously winning gold at the Athens Olympics.

There were also four seeded upsets orchestrated by Spain's Nuria Llagostera Vives (d. (9) Zvonareva 6-1 in the third), Colombia's (Q) Catalina Castano (d. (17) Suarez), Israel's (Q) Shahar Peer (d. (28) Bartoli in three), and American Marissa Irvin who benefited from (31) Dinara Safina showing some of the mental struggles associated with her family, winning 7-6(4), 0-6, 6-4.

On court Saturday in Miami are (1) Mauresmo vs. Kirilenko, (4) Dementieva vs. Linetskaya in an all-Russian, Clijsters vs. (24) Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier, Vento-Kabchi vs. (5) Myskina, (Q) Voskoboeva vs. (6) Kuznetsova in an all-Russian, (22) Golovin vs. (WC) Haynes, (12) Dechy vs. Raymond, (20) Hantuchova vs. (LL) Cohen-Aloro, Ruano Pascual vs. (27) Maleeva, Morigami vs. (30) Smashnova, (26) Pennetta vs. Sanchez Lorenzo, Vaidisova vs. (18) Jankovic, Parra Santonja vs. (16) Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem, (10) Petrova vs. Ivanovic, Perebiynis vs. (13) Bovina, and (32) Klara "Kouky" Koukalova vs. Randriantefy.