Wow Maria, I Love Your Camel Toe!

Sharapova Eases Into Wimbledon Final Four

Russian Maria Sharapova saw off her compatriot Elena Dementieva in straight sets to reach the semi-finals of the women's singles at the Wimbledon Tennis Championship here on Tuesday.
The 2004 champion, who had survived a tough fourth round battle against Flavia Pennetta, offered her seventh-seeded opponent few chances in a 6-1, 6-4 victory.
Sharapova was quickly into the action, seemingly picking up where she left off in her recent thrashing of Dementieva in Indian Wells, breaking at the first opportunity to establish an immediate 3-0 lead.
Dementieva, on the other hand, had difficulty with her own serve, an aspect of her game which she has tried to rectify by turning to Richard Krajicek for coaching, but under pressure inevitably reverted to type.
Despite two double faults, she held for 1-3 only to be hammered in the next as Sharapova blasted four deliveries to hold to love.
The 24-year-old Dementieva, playing her eighth Wimbledon, kept trying hard and improved enough in the second set to hold four of her service games and force two break point opportunities. But it was nowhere near enough to make a real impression on her opponent.

Wimbledon-Myskina aims volley at Jankovic

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - Anastasia Myskina launched a fierce verbal volley at Jelena Jankovic after winning their fourth round clash at Wimbledon on Monday.
Russian ninth seed Myskina won 6-4 7-6 but said she was rattled by her Serb opponent's on-court behaviour.
"She's a really strange player," Myskina told reporters.
"Let's put it that way. She walks on the court. I don't think she really care about the way she plays.
"She cares more about how she looks. That was kind of strange. She was touching her hair, whatever, her skirt.
"I was just thinking, 'if you don't want to play tennis, why are we even trying here so hard?'"
Myskina beat Jankovic 10-8 in the deciding set in a third round meeting at Wimbledon last year and there is clearly no love lost between the players.
"It's a little bit (distracting)," added former French Open champion Myskina who takes on Amelie Mauresmo in the pick of Tuesday's quarter-finals
"She took her towel here, she took a towel there. It's really annoying. She can play really well but she's like up and down all the time."
Myskina said she was just pleased to get through.
"I was a little bit tense because I wanted to finish the match. I put a little bit of pressure on myself."

Mixed Doubles News From Sania Mirza

LONDON: Sania Mirza and Pavel Vizner of Czech Republic nipped a late challenge by Fenando Verdasco and Anabel Medina Garrigues to move into the second round of the mixed doubles event at the Wimbledon on Saturday. Sania and Vizner defeated the Spanish duo 6-2 7-5 to set up a second round clash with Czech Republic’s Leos Friedl and Liezl Huber of South Africa.
Fourth seeds Leander Paes and Samantha Stosur, who had a bye in the first round, were level with Australian Paul Hanley and Tatiana Perebiynis of Ukraine 4-6 6-3 9-9 in a second round tie when play was suspended due to bad light. The match will be continued on Monday.
Mahesh Bhupathi and China’s Zi Yan, seeded 11th, also had a first-round bye. They will be up against Americans Bob Bryan and Venus Williams on Monday.

Li Na can’t believe she has made Wimbledon history

LI NA admitted she was stunned after upsetting Russian fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova to become the first Chinese player to reach the last 16 at Wimbledon.
Li Na, the 27th seed, will now face Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic tomorrow for a place in the quarter-finals.
"When I was in the locker room afterwards I couldn’t believe it," said the 24-year-old from Wuhan.
Li Na believes her decision to return to college in 2003 before resuming her tennis career has been one of the major reasons for her success.
"Definitely that helped, before I was just a little girl and when something happened on court I couldn’t really think properly," she added.
"I think now I’ve grown up."
Zheng Jie, China’s world No 37, said she was delighted by Li Na’s achievement.
Zheng Jie, who was beaten in straight sets by Belgian second seed Kim Clijsters in the third round, said she was not surprised by Li Na’s 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Kuznetsova.
"I was not surprised that she beat her this time," said the 23-year-old.
"Two years ago she played her in the China Open and had two match points but she lost.
"She said yesterday morning that when she plays Kuznetsova she always loses in three sets but I told her she could win next time!"
Zheng Jie said she was pleased with her own performance in reaching the third round at only her second Wimbledon and was full of praise for Clijsters.
"She has a lot of power and a big serve," said Zheng Jie. "I returned well today but her serve is so strong that I didn’t have the chance.
"I think it isn’t bad to get to the third round as in China there are no grass courts."
Clijsters paid tribute to the Chinese girl.
"She’s a tough player. I played against her once in Hong Kong in an exhibition. It was a close match," said the Belgian. "She’s a counter-puncher. She likes to play fast rallies and likes to stand on the baseline and dictate the points.
"It was important for me to keep moving her side to side and not let her play her game."
Li Na, who clinched her first tour title at Guangzhou in 2004, is making her debut at Wimbledon and is the first Chinese player to be seeded at a Grand Slam.

Sharapova Too Sharp for Frazier

07/01/06 -Fourth seed Maria Sharapova continued her smooth passage through the Wimbledon women’s field when she defeated the American 33-year-old Amy Frazier, 6-3, 6-2 in one hour 14 minutes.
The 2004 champion has now won three rounds without conceding a set and at a cost of just 11 games. She was helped considerably in this victory by an off-form Frazier, who double-faulted 10 times. She had 17 unforced errors altogether.
Still, Frazier managed a small celebration, since this was her 18th appearance at The Championships and her 70th Grand Slam event. Both are records in the women’s game.
Sharapova admitted she was a little confused by Frazier’s play. "She would hit a big serve, and then a double-fault. It kind of got me out of my rhythm a bit. Other than that, it was good."
Sharapova says she has been working on her game, trying to come in a bit more and working on her serve placement. Also, she says, her recent ankle injury now seems to have healed, so she is well positioned to go much further in the second week.

Hingis Exits Wimbledon

July 1, 2006
WIMBLEDON, England -- Martina Hingis wiped away a tear as she walked off Centre Court, a match that seemed within her grasp suddenly gone.
Hingis had company Friday. Other unexpected exits were made by 2004 U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, James Blake and David Nalbandian.
"Somehow, at Wimbledon, you're never safe," Hingis said after wasting a 3-0 lead in the final set and losing to Ai Sugiyama of Japan, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4. "When you're out on the grass, it seems like you never know how the next point's going to go."
Half a season into her comeback after three years away because of injuries, Hingis was playing at Wimbledon for the first time since 2001. And she impressed until Friday, dropping a total of seven games in the first two rounds. She looked fatigued as the match went past the 1 1/2 -hour mark, double-faulting twice to get broken to 3-all in the final set, then slipping at the baseline on two points as she lost the next game.
Hingis -- at 25, she's five years younger than Sugiyama -- got more and more rattled as the match slipped away, complaining about line calls and slamming a ball off the court after one miscue, drawing a collective "Oooooh!" from the crowd.

Wimbledon-Myskina keeps alive Russian dream, Safina flops

By Pritha Sarkar
LONDON, July 1 (Reuters) - Anastasia Myskina led the Russian charge into the fourth round at Wimbledon on Saturday with a 6-3 6-4 win over Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues.
The 2004 French Open champion was one of seven Russian women to reach the third round here but following the exit of fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anna Chakvetadze on Friday, she was the first player from her nation to reach the last 16.
Joining ninth seed Myskina was seventh seed Elena Dementieva after she won a Russian duel with Elena Likhovtseva 7-5 6-3.
Dinara Safina, who reached her first grand slam quarter-final at the French Open last month, was not as fortunate.
The younger sister of former men's number one Marat Safin lost out on a possible meeting with top seed Amelie Mauresmo when she let a set and 4-1 advantage slip during a 3-6 7-6 6-1 defeat by Serb Ana Ivanovic.
Maria Sharapova, seeking to win her second title here following her triumph two years ago, could add to the Russian tally if she overcomes American Amy Frazier on Centre Court later on Saturday. Likhovtseva was troubled by a right ankle injury and had to take a three-minute time out after being broken in the first set to trail 5-6.
After getting her ankle heavily strapped, she was unable to prevent Dementieva from bagging the set.
But Likhovtseva refused to surrender without a fight and broke to lead 3-1 in the second set before Dementieva rallied and booked her place in the next round against Shenay Perry.

Good Play From Daniela Hantuchova

Daniela and Mahesh Win US Open Mixed Doubles Title

August 9, 2005: Daniela and Mahesh Bhupathi won the US Open Mixed Doubles title by defeating Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia and Montenegro in straight sets. The first set featured only one break of serve but early in the second they broke, and later broke to lead 5-2. They then recovered from 0-40 to win the next five points and take the title. They won 6-4, 6-2 meaning Daniela now has won all four Grand Slam Mixed Doubles titles after winning Wimbledon in 2001 with Luis Friedl, the Australian Open in 2002 with Kevin Ullyett and the French Open earlier this year with Fabrice Santoro.

Game over for Sharapova

Maria Sharapova should have reached her third straight Roland Garros quarterfinal, but crumbled late in the third set and lost to compatriot Dinara Safina, 7-5 2-6 7-5, in two hours and 34 minutes on Court Suzanne Lenglen Sunday.
Sharapova led 4-0 and 5-1 in the final set, but won only won six more points, as Safina stormed back to reach the final eight at a Grand Slam for the first time.
"I just didn't want to leave the court. I was enjoying. It was nice to play," is how Safina described her mindset at 1-5. "I just wanted to stay more. I said like, okay, for to stay more, I have to try to do more. And I played I think very well from 5-1."
Safina, the 14th seed, really only played well for parts of the opening set and in the final six games of the match, but it was enough to oust Sharapova.
"She picked up her game a little bit and mine went down. You know, that's not a good combination," Sharapova said. "I really think it has to do with the fact that I haven't, you know, had those kind of tough matches in the past few weeks and it's hard to come into a Grand Slam [like that].
"It's in your hands and you've got to finish it off, all of a sudden you start thinking. That's what happened today."
On the verge of defeat, Safina found her rhythm. Her ground strokes started finding the line and her defensive play picked up. And when Safina did not win the point outright, Sharapova gave it away. Even when she came to the net, Sharapova could not slow Safina's momentum.
The match ended on a backhand cross court winner off a too-deep Sharapova forehand volley.
"I took everything in my hands, you know" Safina said of her comeback. "I said, 'Okay, like before she was dictating, I had to run always from corner to corner.' I said, 'Okay, now I try to make her run.' I started to look for the lines and I started to be more aggressive from every point."
But Sharapova never should have been in that position - this could have been a fairly routine straight set victory. The former Wimbledon champion gift-wrapped the opening set for Safina by failing to consolidate two early breaks and then sailing an easy forehand on set point at 5-4, one of 33 first-set unforced errors.
Safina won the final three games of the first set, breaking at love to close out, but Sharapova recovered quickly. She took the second set with little trouble and built what seemed to be an insurmountable lead in the third set.
"I didn't think I would be playing my best tennis here [because of a foot injury]…but I did the best I can," Sharapova admitted. "You know, I had the chances to be in the quarterfinals; I just didn't take them."
She did not take them in large part due to her forehand. Its inconsistency kept Safina afloat in the opening set and it abandoned her once again during Safina's resurgence, in particular when she served at 5-4.
Safina's break in the tenth game came care of Sharapova's three consecutive forehand errors.
In the quarterfinals, Safina will meet another Russian, 8th seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, who posted her own come-from-behind victory Sunday, 1-6 6-4 6-4 over Italian Francesca Schiavone.