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Williams sets up H-H showdown, Sharapova edges through thriller
PARIS - Gritty Maria Sharapova overcame her shoulder injury as she battled her heart out to make it past Swiss Patty Schnyder 3-6, 6-4, 9-7 in the fourth round of the French Open on Sunday.
Russian player Maria Sharapova hits a backhand shot to Swiss player Patty Schnyder during their French Tennis Open fourth round match at Roland Garros, in Paris. Sharapova won 3-6, 6-4, 9-7. [AFP] |
The 14th-seeded Schnyder served for the match three times before dropping serve in the last game, sending a forehand wide to give Sharapova the two hours and 37 minutes win.
"At the end, she was the big champion," a dejected Schnyder said after the match. "I'm the little one who could not win. That was the match today."
"It's a great thing to be in the fourth round so many times but it's not too nice to lose many times in the fourth round; but those are two different things. I'll keep playing. I'm trying my best to break the fourth round stuff. We'll see," she added.
A run to the quarterfinals at Roland Garros seems unbelievable for the Russian, who missed most of the clay court season with the shoulder injury, just last week making her return to women's tour at Istanbul and reaching the semis.
"I just tried to worry about myself even on match points, even when she was up 30-0. I was not going to leave until I gave it my all and that match was over," said Sharapova. "I figured that if I was going to lose this match I was going to lose it on my terms. I thought I did an amazing job of getting myself back into the match."
Not allowing Schnyder to take control of the match on what is perhaps her best surface, Sharapova had to keep playing aggressively on the slowest surface.
"I figured I wasn't going to beat her by being a clay court player. I'm simply not a clay court player," Sharapova continued.
"I just started moving in and I started hitting the ball and attacking. It worked in the beginning, then I sort of started playing her game, the points became long and against her, if you're getting into 10 or 15-ball rallies, that's not really the way to play her."
Coming up next for Sharapova will be the ninth seed and fellow-Russian Anna Chakvetadze, who overcame a casual second set to win at 6-4, 0-6, 6-2 over Czech prospect Lucie Safarova. Sharapova is 3-0 in their head-to-head series.
"I had a tough one against her in Australia," said Sharapova, who is six months Chakvetadze's junior.
"Obviously this is clay, and I've never faced her on clay. But just like with everyone else, I've got to worry about myself."
There was easy win for Czech sensation Nicole Vaidisova, who made brief work of Italian Tathiana Garbin 6-3, 6-1 to book her place in the last eight.
The sixth seed Vaidisova, the youngest player left in the draw at 18, proved far too strong for Garbin, the oldest at 29, needing just 66 minutes to get the green light.
World number five Jelena Jankovic became the national enemy when she ended the host nation's presence at the French Open, sending Marion Bartoli crashing out with a 6-1, 6-1 demolition.
Serbia's Jankovic, the women's tour upstart this year with three titles, needed just 64 minutes to brush aside Bartoli and set up a quarter-final meeting with Vaidisova.
Serena Williams set up a mouthwatering quarterfinal showdown against three-time champion Justine Henin as she thrashed the 10th seed Dinara Safina of Russia.
The American, seeded eighth at the clay court tournament, got the better of the Russian opponent 6-2, 6-3 with her big serving and huge returns at the opening match on the Philippe Chatrier Court.
Safina did have some moments when she found the lines with her accurate groundstrokes, but Williams was quicker and steadier.
"That was definitely better today," said Williams after her match. "It came together in practice the other day and I knew if I could play the way I practised, I would be able to do a good job."
The last time Williams and Henin played at Roland Garros was in the 2003 semi-finals, when Henin stopped the "Serena Slam" in three hot- contested and controversial sets.
"Justine is really good here. She's done really solid here. Usually I don't want to peak too soon. I like to bring up the level of my play right around quarters, semis, mainly in the finals."
2002 champion Williams, who has not competed in Paris since the 2004 tournament, and Henin shared a bad-tempered semi-final at Roland Garros in 2003. Williams came off the court crying and later accused Henin of being unsportsmanlike. Henin denied the charge, but the two did not really mend fences publicly until this March, when they had kind words to say about each other after Williams bested the Belgian in the Miami final.
"I'm very excited about the match-up. It was what it was, we're both different people now."
Top seed Henin's relentless progress towards a third straight French Open title continued when the Belgian beat Austria's Sybille Bammer 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and 24 minutes.
It was plain sailing for Henin until she was broken twice in the second set as Bammer went into her game and stormed back to 4-4. But the world number one quickly restored her patience and never looked back.
The third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova downed No.14 seed Shahar Peer for the first time in three attempts 6-4, 6-3 to set up a rematch of her recent Berlin final against Serb Ana Ivanovic, who was a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 winner over No.24 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues from Spain.
Williams sets up H-H showdown, Sharapova edges through thriller(Over)
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