The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Winning debut for Sharapova

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 10, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Winning debut for Sharapova

AMELIA ISLAND: Top-seeded Maria Sharapova made a successful debut at the Bausch & Lomb Championships with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic on Tuesday. Lindsay Davenport began her quest for a fourth Bausch & Lomb title with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Vania King.

“Coming into the match, you really don’t know what to expect because your opponent has already had a few matches on clay, and this is your first match,” Sharapova said. “So the most important thing today was just to try to get used to the atmosphere and the court and the opponent.”

Bartoli upset

Olga Govortsova pulled off a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 upset of No. 4 Marion Bartoli of France, who continued her struggles at Amelia Island Plantation. She is 0-4 on the green clay and the only seeded player to lose in the first two days of the tournament.

Hungarian No. 8 Agnes Szavay, No. 13 Virginie Razzano of France and No. 15 Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues won second round matches. No. 10 Alona Bondarenko, No. 12 Katarina Srebotnik and No. 14 Victoria Azarenka were first round winners.

Sharapova, who ran her 2008 record to 19-1, is playing this week to get an early start on her preparation for Roland Garros.

Losing it

She forced Zahlavova Strycova into fits during the 70-minute match. The Czech qualifier threw her racket and slammed it against her shoe and the ground, yelled at herself and even yapped to the chair umpire.

Sharapova stayed cool on the other end and was only broken once on her serve.

“I started well and got a good advantage in the first set,” Sharapova said. “There were obviously a lot of things that hopefully I will be improving from this match, but it was a good start.” Davenport played on clay for the first time since 2005 at Roland Garros but showed little rust.

The results: Second round: Maria Sharapova bt Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-1, 6-3; Olga Govortsova bt Marion Bartoli 4-6, 6-2, 6-4; Agnes Szavay bt Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 6-1; Virginie Razzano bt Marta Domachowska 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(4); Anabel Medina Garrigues bt Melinda Czink 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. First round: Alona Bondarenko bt Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-2, 6-0; Katarina Srebotnik bt Chan Yung-Jan 6-4, 6-0; Victoria Azarenka bt Sara Errani 3-6, 7-5, 6-4; Lindsay Davenport bt Vania King 6-2, 6-3; Caroline Wozniacki bt Pauline Parmentier 6-3. 6-1; Dominika Cibulkova bt Anastasia Rodionova 6-3, 7-5; Elena Vesnina bt Milagros Sequera 7-6(1), 6-0; Gisela Dulko bt Edina Gallovits 7-5, 6-2; Karolina Sprem bt Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 7-6(3); Sorana Cirstea bt Bethanie Mattek 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. — Agencies

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport