Russian Maria Sharapova, Anna Chakvetadze and Serb Ana Ivanovic
made the semifinals, together with world number one Justine Henin,
in the WTA Championships on Thursday.
Maria Sharapova of
Russia returns the ball to compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova during
their WTA Championships tennis match in Madrid November 8, 2007.
[Photo: Reuters]
Sharapova rallied from a set down to overpower world number two
Svetlana Kuznetsova 5-7, 6-2 and 6-2, and Chakvetadze toppled world
number three Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 0-6 and 6-3.
Ivanovic made the last four thanks to Sharapova's victory, with
the two players meeting on Friday to decide who will advance as
group winner to avoid Henin in the semi-finals.
Henin had revenge for her Wimbledon semi-final defeat against
Marion Bartoli when she demolished the Frenchwoman 6-0 and 6-0 in
her final round-robin match.
Bartoli was the last player to defeat Henin when she came back
from a set down to clinch a dramatic victory at Wimbledon in
July.
"I wanted to take revenge," admitted Henin who was already
assured of a place in the semi-finals of the US$3 million
tournament she won last year.
"Wimbledon is far away now. She was better than me that day and
that was it. Now a few months later I'm fresh and in Wimbledon I
was pretty tired. I had a pretty good reaction after that defeat
though and it helped me."
Sharapova, who won the prestigious event in 2004, recovered from
a slow start to produce some top-class tennis against compatriot
Kuznetsova.
She found her rhythm in the second set and started stretching
Kuznetsova around with heavy ground strokes to record breaks in the
fifth and seventh games.
In the third set, Kuznetsova's double fault gifted Sharapova
three break points in the fifth game and she broke again in the
seventh on her way to a confident victory.
"She hurt me in the first set but I got hold of myself and
stayed tough and positive which was really good," said
Sharapova.
Chakvetadze who edged the first set against Jankovic, looked to
be wilting after losing the second 6-0.
But the Russian recovered to rattle off the next four games to
go 4-1 up and then held her nerve to clinch the victory.
"It was a very tough match, a very nervous match with a lot of
ups and downs," said Chakvetadze. "I'm so tired right now I just
want to go to sleep."
(Xinhua News Agency November 9, 2007)
