Sharapova, Henin-Hardenne Survive 3-Setters at French Open

Posted on May 25, 2005

World No. 1-wannabee Maria Sharapova was tested on her weakest surface Tuesday by unseeded fellow Russian Evgenia Linetskaya at the French Open, surviving into the second round 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-4.

"I was letting her play her game," said Sharapova who was down 1-3 in the third set. "There's nothing on my balls. One, the conditions were heavy, yes. Another one, I didn't realize and I didn't change anything...In the second set, I think I had a little more pace on my shots and whenever you feel like you're hitting a heavier ball and deeper ball, you get more confidence and you feel like you can hit it over and over again."

Former No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne was also forced to three sets by 33-year-old Spaniard Conchita Martinez, cruising through the first set 6-0 before struggling to the finish line 4-6, 6-4.

"I know what I did wrong and I have to correct the mistakes," said Henin-Hardenne, who improved to 21-1 on the year. "But it's better to win in three sets than to go home."

Other seeded winners on Tuesday were (3) Amelie Mauresmo (d. Dominikovich), (6) Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. (WC) Johansson 1-and-1), (7) Nadia Petrova (d. Washington), (12) Elena Bovina (d. Vento-Kabchi, bagel in the first), (13) Nathalie Dechy (d. Pastikova), (17) Tatiana Golovin (d. Osterloh, bagel in the first), (22) Francesca Schiavone (d. Zheng in three), (24) Magdalena Maleeva (d. Fujiwara), (29) Ana Ivanovic (d. Foretz), and (30) Gisela Dulko (d. Mirza).

Four low-rent seeds were sent home early in first round play in (15) Jelena Jankovic (l. to Smashnova-Pistolesi, bagel in the first), (23) Ai Sugiyama (l. to Llagostera in three), (26) Paola Suarez (l. to Chakvetadze, bagel in the third), and (28) Marion Bartoli (l. to Peer).

Un-seeds into the second round were France's Severine Beltrame (d. Spears) and wildcards Alize Cornet (d. Jidkova) and Aravane Rezai (d. (WC) Pin from a set down), American Marissa Irvin (d. Pratt from a set down), Swedish qualifier Sofia Arvidsson (d. Daniilidou), Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues (d. Mandula 0-and-1) and Virginia Ruano Pascual (d. (Q) Yakimova), Italy's Antonella Serra Zanetti (d. Weingartner) and Tathiana Garbin (d. Sucha in three), Czechs Kveta Peschke (d. Randriantefy 1-and-0), Klara Koukalova (d. (Q) Jugic-Salkic in three), Nicole Vaidisova (d. (LL) Safarova from a set down) and Iveta Benesova (d. (WC) Parmentier), Aussie Sam Stosur (d. Talaja), Germany's Anna-Lena Groenefeld (d. Vinci in three), and Puerto Rico's Kristina Brandi (d. (WC) Fedossova from a set down).

On court Wednesday for the women are (11) Venus vs. Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga, (21) Pierce vs. Kostanic, (4) Dementieva vs. Mamic, (14) Clijsters vs. Cervanova, (27) Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier vs. Loit, (1) Davenport vs. Peng, Sesil "The Mouth" Karatantcheva vs. (19) Asagoe, C.Fernandez vs. Razzano, (31) Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem vs. Morigami, (20) Hantuchova vs. Castano, in doubles Navratilova/Sanchez-Vicario vs. Spaniards Dominguez Lino/Nuria Llagostera "Pancho" Vives, Gagliardi vs. Sanchez Lorenzo, (18) Farina Elia vs. Parra Santonja, (9) Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva vs. Birnerova, (8) Schnyder vs. Kloesel, (16) Likhovtseva vs. Diaz-Oliva, and (32) Flavia "Of the Day" Pennetta vs. Domachowska.