Sharapova, Myskina Bounced at WTA Moscow
Posted on October 15, 2005All three Russian former Grand Slam winners were bounced from the quarterfinals Friday at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, with the shocking blow delivered by unseeded Russian Dinara Safina who rebounded from an opening-set trouncing to oust world No. 1 Maria Sharapova 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.
"I played softly on a match point and then waited for her mistakes," said Safina who almost blew a 5-1 lead in the third. "I was almost crying. And at 5-5, I began to attack myself."
Sharapova started loosely going for her shots in the third set but could not finish against Marat Safin's younger sister.
"At 5-1 down I just relaxed and played my tennis," Sharapova said. "At the decisive moment, I just missed my chance."
Italy's Francesca Schiavone steamrolled former US Open winner and No. 8 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-1, and No. 4 seed Elena Dementieva eased past former French Open winner and No. 6 seed Anastasia Myskina 6-2, 6-3
No. 3 seed Mary Pierce also edged into the semifinals with a 7-6 in the third win over unseeded Russian Elena Likhovtseva.
"She started to play short and I received easy balls," said Pierce who reeled off eight straight points after going down 0-6 in the third-set breaker. "If she played in the match the way she played a tiebreaker, I could have won the match 6-0, 6-0. Maybe she was waiting for my mistake. But I just capitalized on those opportunities she gave me."
Matching up in the Saturday semifinals are (4) Dementieva vs. Schiavone (Russian leads career meetings 3-1), and Safina vs. (3) Pierce (first meeting).
"I played softly on a match point and then waited for her mistakes," said Safina who almost blew a 5-1 lead in the third. "I was almost crying. And at 5-5, I began to attack myself."
Sharapova started loosely going for her shots in the third set but could not finish against Marat Safin's younger sister.
"At 5-1 down I just relaxed and played my tennis," Sharapova said. "At the decisive moment, I just missed my chance."
Italy's Francesca Schiavone steamrolled former US Open winner and No. 8 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-1, and No. 4 seed Elena Dementieva eased past former French Open winner and No. 6 seed Anastasia Myskina 6-2, 6-3
No. 3 seed Mary Pierce also edged into the semifinals with a 7-6 in the third win over unseeded Russian Elena Likhovtseva.
"She started to play short and I received easy balls," said Pierce who reeled off eight straight points after going down 0-6 in the third-set breaker. "If she played in the match the way she played a tiebreaker, I could have won the match 6-0, 6-0. Maybe she was waiting for my mistake. But I just capitalized on those opportunities she gave me."
Matching up in the Saturday semifinals are (4) Dementieva vs. Schiavone (Russian leads career meetings 3-1), and Safina vs. (3) Pierce (first meeting).