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Sharapova, Serena Muddle Through at French Open
Posted on June 1, 2007
Two of the crowd favorites at the French Open advanced somewhat-easily into the third round Thursday when No. 2-seeded Maria Sharapova and No. 8 Serena Williams subdued their opponents while dealing with various difficulties.
Sharapova steamrolled American Jill Craybas 6-2, 6-1, but the leggy Russian has never been a good mover on clay and says the problem lingers in the back of her mind.
"I feel like a cow on ice," Sharapova said. "I don't play on clay for the other 10 months of the year. It's not as natural for me."
The younger Williams sister blew past opponent Milagros Sequera 6-0 in the first set before her game fell apart, escaping with a 7-6(3) result in the second.
"It was weird," Williams said. "I didn't feel like I played my best tennis throughout the whole match. I was kind of struggling out there to get the rhythm."
Other seeded winners into the fourth round Thursday were (3) Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. Shaughnessy), (5) Amelie Mauresmo (d. Dechy 6-1 in the third), (7) Ana Ivanovic (d. Mirza), (9) Anna Chakvetadze (d. Szavay in three), (14) Patty Schnyder (d. K.Bondarenko), (15) Shahar Peer (d. Gallovits), (17) Katarina Srebotnik (d. Dushevina), (21) Ai Sugiyama (d. Tu in three), (24) Anabel Medina Garrigues (d. Likhovtseva), and (25) Lucie Safarova (d. Pratt 0-and-1).
Unseeded 19-year-old Italian Karin Knapp (d. (22) A.Bondarenko in three) led the upsets, joined by 19-year-old Russian Alla Kudryavtseva (d. (29) Dulko 8-6 in the third), and Slovak Dominika Cibulkova (d. (32) Muller).
In the only all-unseeded match-up Ioana Ralucca Olaru beat Tatiana Poutchek, and (12) Daniela Hantuchova vs. Olga Poutchkova was postponed due to darkness.
Highlights of Friday play are (4) Jelena Jankovic vs. (26) Venus Williams, (1) Justine Henin vs. (28) Mara Santangelo, (18) Marion Bartoli vs. (13) Elena Dementieva, (8) Serena Williams vs. Michaella Krajicek, (10) Dinara Safina vs. (23) Francesca Schiavone, and (27) Sam Stosur vs. (6) Nicole Vaidisova.
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