The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Sharapova's shrieks and shots in an orbit above Venus

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 02, 2005

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Sport - Tennis

Sharapova's shrieks and shots in an orbit above Venus

KEY BISCAYNE (FLORIDA), APRIL 1. Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams reached a crescendo in the final game, swapping shrieks that accompanied their shots in a series of furious exchanges.

Sharapova was a little louder and a bit better.

Holding her ground and her serve when Williams mounted a comeback, Sharapova erased six break points to close out a 6-4, 6-3 victory on Thursday in the semifinals of the Nasdaq-100 Open.

Second-seeded Sharapova advanced to her first Key Biscayne final. On Saturday she'll play unseeded Kim Clijsters, who extended her winning streak to 13 matches by routing top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo 6-1, 6-0.

Top-ranked Roger Federer and six-time champion Andre Agassi advanced to a semifinal showdown on Friday night. Federer, bidding for his first Key Biscayne title, beat No. 6 Tim Henman 6-4, 6-2. Agassi, seeded ninth, won the final eight games to defeat Taylor Dent 7-5, 6-0.

Federer has beaten Agassi six times in a row and eliminated him at the past two Grand Slam events. The other semifinal will be an all-Spanish match-up between unseeded David Ferrer and No. 29 Rafael Nadal.

Williams, seeded eighth, ended a streak of six consecutive losses to her sister by beating Serena in the quarterfinals. But with Serena watching from the stands, Sharapova refused to let Venus pull off another upset.

Hitting with the precision of a ball machine, only noisier, Sharapova consistently placed her powerful serves and groundstrokes within inches of the lines. Both players held easily through the first nine games, before Williams wavered serving at 4-5. Sharapova hit two strong returns for the first break-point chance, and Williams sailed a forehand long to give the Russian the set.

Sharapova broke again and took leads of 3-0 and 4-1 in the second set. She hit one forehand winner past the 6-foot-1 Williams from two steps behind the baseline.

When she closed out the victory, Sharapova sank to her knees and slapped the baseline with glee. Still three weeks shy of her 18th birthday, she's 22-2 this year and has staged a remarkable rebound from a 6-0, 6-0 loss two weeks ago to Lindsay Davenport at Indian Wells.

The results: Men: Quarterfinals: Roger Federer bt Tim Henman 6-4, 6-2; Andre Agassi bt Taylor Dent 7-5, 6-0.

Women: Semifinals: Maria Sharapova bt Venus Williams 6-4, 6-3; Kim Clijsters bt Amelie Mauresmo 6-1, 6-0. — AP

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