Sharapova Claims First Clay-Court Title

By Tennis Week

Continuing a season of firsts, Maria Sharapova was the last woman standing in Amelia Island.

Sharapova won her first Australian Open title in January, made her first Fed Cup appearance for Russia in February and today captured the first clay-court championship of her career with a 7-6(7), 6-3 victory over a determined Dominika Cibulkova in the Bausch & Lomb Championships final.

"I took it one step at a time," said Sharapova who edged 15th-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues, 7-6(3), 5-7, 7-6(1) in the third round before outlasting 10th-seeded Alona Bondarenko, 6-7(9), 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. "I had a few tough ones earlier in the week, but my body held up throughout the tournament. It's the first clay-court title I've won so it feels pretty cool."

The 34th-ranked Cibulkova stopped second-seeded Anna Chakvetadze in the third round before conquering former World No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo in the final. Playing her first career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour final, the 18-year-old Slovak used her fast feet, compact strokes and ability to take the ball early to fight back from a 1-3 deficit today.

Sharapova smacked a forehand return winner down the line to earn break point and followed with a backhand swing volley winner to break for 5-4.

Serving for the first set, Sharapova found herself on the defensive against the teenager, who smacked her a forehand swing volley while moving into the court, forcing a stretched-out Sharapova to hit a left-handed forehand reply. Cibulkova was waiting and cracked a backhand winner down the line to break back for 5-5.

In the tiebreaker, Sharapova slid a slice ace out wide to earn her first set point at 6-5, but Cibulkova surprised Sharapova with a stinging serve to save the set point.

Sprinting forward in pursuit of the dipping drop shot, Sharapova slid across the Har-Tru court and nudged a forehand that trickled over the tape. Anticipating the get, Cibulkova moved forward and was waiting but with a wide expanse of open court in front of her, she tapped a forehand wide to hand Sharapova a second set point.

She dumped a double fault into the net but two points later Sharapova seized the set when Cibulkova lined a tight forehand return into the net.

Sharapova plans to play the Family Circle Cup in Charleston next week followed by at least one European clay-court tournament — possibly Rome — before taking a shot at the only Grand Slam title missing from her impressive resume: Roland Garros. Sharapova is bidding to join Serena Williams as the only active player to capture all four majors in a career.

Source: http://www.tennisweek.com/news/fullstory.sps?inewsid=548790

Sharapova savours sweet success

By Luke Buttigieg

Australian Open 2008 women's singles champion Maria Sharapova says her victory is just reward for all the hard work she has put in over recent months.

Sharapova struggled with injury for much of 2007 but finally managed to shake off most of her ailments in the latter part of the year and returned to some of the tennis that she's renowned for when she reached the final at the WTA Tour Championships.

And having avenged her defeat to Justine Henin in that final in Madrid when she won her quarter-final against the Belgian world No.1 earlier this week, Sharapova completed her third Grand Slam win with a 7-5 6-3 defeat of Serbian Ana Ivanovic.

"So exciting, it's amazing," she said of her feelings about her latest triumph. "Sometimes you just … when you're putting the work in it just seems so, so hard, and you never know when that work's gonna pay off."

"When you're going through tough moments, you never know when you're going to have good moments. I'm just so thankful that I got this one."

But having been humbled by unseeded American Serena Williams in the corresponding match 12 months ago when she was the No.1 seed, Sharapova denied that she had any extra motivation this time around in an event in which she didn't drop a set.

"No, just satisfying, period, to win a Grand Slam, and to win one that you've never won before, especially after some of the tough losses that I've had," Sharapova said when asked if she was more satisfied to win it in light of her loss in 2007.

"The feeling is just so weird, because with every match you play, you finish the match and you think, there's one more to go and you've got to concentrate. Although you just beat a top player, you played really good tennis, you always feel like there's one more to go."

"And right now there's no more to go, and I just can't feel that yet, you know. I feel like I still have to get up tomorrow and play another match," a smiling Sharapova added. "But it will settle in - I hope - really soon. I mean, I don't have a match till next week."

Having come close to being ousted in the first round in 2007 when a scorching Melbourne day almost brought her undone, Sharapova was much more comfortable in the warm conditions on Saturday.

"When I was in Singapore a couple weeks ago it was so hot and humid out there," she said.

"I got to practice there for about three days outdoors. It was great, because when I got out on the court today, I was like, 'This is a piece of cake'."

"Even though it's hot, it wasn't nearly as hot as it was over there. You know, just mentally going into the match I didn't really care. Whatever it took, I was just gonna try to do everything I could to win that match."

While unsure at first whether she could say that her greater Grand Slam final experience had helped her, Sharapova did confirm that to be the case when she cast her mind back to the pivotal 10th game of the first set.

"When I was down 0-30 on my serve, when she had that opportunity to break me and win that set, I think experience definitely helped me because I didn't get impatient," Sharapova said. "I was just steady. I knew that, you know, it was for her to take."

"I mean, she's two points away from winning the first set in a Grand Slam final. You know, if you want it, take it. And she didn't. Was that experience? I was just calm. I just did the right things."

Having also revealed after her win that she has regular contact with former star Billie Jean King, and was in touch with her both before and after the final, Sharapova ominously warned her rivals she thinks her game can still improve.

"I know I've already won three Grand Slams, I know I keep saying this, but I don't think I'm at the peak of my career yet," she said. "I don't think my body has 100 per cent developed into its own."

"I've got many more things to learn, you know, in my tennis, and many things to build and improve. That takes time. It's not an overnight process. It's something that I look forward to.

Sharapova is obviously confident any time she enters a Grand Slam that she can go all the way, but two of her biggest goals for the rest of 2008 would surely be trying to complete a career slam and also success at the Beijing Olympics.

And if she can maintain the stellar form that took her to this breakthrough on Saturday, few would bet against the Russian being right in the hunt at the business end of many major tournaments for years to come.

Source: http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/news/articles/2008-01-26/200801261201331476031.html?promo=hp_toparticles

Sharapova outclasses Davenport in Australian Open Tennis Championship

It was billed as the blockbuster showdown of the first week, but unfortunately it failed to live up to expectations, with Maria Sharapova easily accounting for Lindsay Davenport in their second round match.

The Russian coasted to a 6-1, 6-3 win in the first night match on Rod Laver Arena, in an impressive performance that displayed her sharp form and focus.

The early-round meeting between these two giants of the game was because Davenport was unseeded following a lay-off from the game in which she gave birth to her first child.

However, Sharapova was not going to underestimate her recently-returned opponent, quickly racing to a 5-0 lead on the back of powerful groundstrokes and dominant serving.

The American, much to the crowd's delight, was able to hold serve to get on the board, but Sharapova closed out the set in the next game to win it 6-1.

It was a closer affair in the second set, with Davenport settling into the baseline exchanges and managing to score some spectacular winners of her own.

But her time away from the game clearly showed, with uncharacteristic errors littering her game.

The No.5 seeded Russian took advantage of this, breaking twice late in the set to run out a convincing winner.

Match Facts

-Sharapova hit 26 winners to Davenport's 10.

-Davenport made 16 unforced error.

-Sharapova recorded the fastest serve for the match at 181km/hr.

-Davenport earned no break points during the match.

-Sharapova won 86 percent of points on her first serve.

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/news/match_reports/2008-01-16/200801161200479293915.html