By Lyndsay Adams
Associated Press
NEW YORK – Maria Sharapova nearly found out just
how quickly one can go from diva to disaster.
No reigning Wimbledon women's champion
has lost in the first round of the U.S. Open, and Sharapova was just one
game from that fate. Then she steeled herself to claim 12 of the last 14
points and got past Laura Granville 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 Tuesday night.
"My game went off for a while. I
went to La-La Land," the 17-year-old Siberian-turned-Floridian said, "but
I came back to Earth."
She wasn't the only top player pushed
to the limit on Day 2 at Flushing Meadows: 2000 Open winner Marat Safin and
11th-seeded Rainer Schuettler lost, while 2003 runner-up Juan Carlos Ferrero
and No. 5 Tim Henman both needed five sets to advance.
Safin, Schuettler and Ferrero were
put in the same quarter of the draw as 2003 champion Andy Roddick, who followed
Sharapova in Arthur Ashe Stadium and broke the tournament record with a 152
mph serve during a 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 victory over 17-year-old Scoville
Jenkins.
One indication of how players slide
from star to afterthought: While Sharapova was on the National Tennis Center's
main stage, 2000-01 Open champ Venus Williams was in the last day-session
match on another court.
Made to wait until after 8:30 p.m.
to play, because she was scheduled to hit the court after Henman and Ferrero,
Williams was broken while serving for the match but eventually pulled out
a 6-3, 7-6 (3) win over 64th-ranked Petra Mandula of Hungary.
"What I need to focus on for me right
now is the second round," said Williams, seeded No. 11 after a year of injuries
and earlier-than-usual losses at majors. "I'm not really thinking ahead too
far."
After cruising through the first
set against 68th-ranked Granville of Chicago before a subdued crowd, Sharapova
was suddenly in trouble late in the second. Down 6-5, Sharapova faced her
first break point of the match, which she saved with a 101 mph service winner
on a second serve. But she double-faulted to grant Granville another break
point, then slapped a forehand into the net.
Granville – never beyond the
second round at the Open – was within a game of a serious surprise,
ahead 5-4 in the third set. That's when Sharapova took over, holding at 15,
breaking at love with a superb cross-court backhand winner, then holding
again at 15.
All the while, the photographers
in their courtside pit trained their equipment on the 6-foot Sharapova, who's
represented by a modeling agency. Most of the time, about 40 cameras followed
her, and one or two followed Granville.
"Wimbledon was an amazing thing,
winning it, but now I have to sort of move on," said Sharapova, who came
to the Open just 3-3 since becoming the third-youngest champion in 127 years
at the All England Club. "You're sort of a celebrity, and people want a piece
of you."
When she hit her 10th ace, followed
by a service winner, to end it, her sunglasses-wearing father jumped and
pounded his fist on his chest. Sharapova mimicked that gesture, then –
just as she did after stunning Serena Williams in Wimbledon's final in July
– went to grab her phone to call Mom.
"It's all about the spirit," Sharapova
said after her 2-hour, 9-minute adventure. "Hanging in there, and trying
to do your best."
Defending U.S. Open champion Justine
Henin-Hardenne found herself in some trouble Tuesday, trailing 15-year-old
Nicole Vaidisova 4-1 in the second set. But the top-ranked Belgian won the
last five games to close out her 6-1, 6-4 victory.
Past winners of Slam titles Lindsay
Davenport (who stretched her winning streak to 18 matches), Anastasia Myskina
and Mary Pierce all won in straight sets, as did No. 9 Svetlana Kuznetsova,
No. 14 Nadia Petrova, No. 20 Chanda Rubin, No. 21 Amy Frazier, and No. 26
Elena Bovina. No. 24 Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi and No. 25 Elena Likhovtseva
were eliminated. |
