Sharapova out of US Open
Maria Sharapova came up against a rising star
Also In The News
|
Brian Belo has unexpectedly won the eighth series of Big Brother, winning 60. |  |
Saturday, 01, Sep 2007 08:49
Defending women’s champion Maria Sharapova was knocked out of the US Open in the third round by Polish teenager Agnieszka Radwanska this evening.
The world number two displayed her typical power but failed to break down Radwanska, who displayed tremendous elan under pressure to prevail 6-4 1-6 6-2.
Sharapova came into the match as a huge favourite, but quickly realised that she was in for a battle as Radwanska responded to her huge ground-strokes with tremendous defensive play to take the first set.
Normal order seemed to be restored in the second set as Sharapova raised her game to take it 6-1. The Russian star continued to impress in the beginning of the deciding set by breaking her opponent early.
But Radwanska, a former Wimbledon junior champion, fought back and broke Sharapova three times to go into a 5-2 lead before sealing the biggest win of her career.
In extremely windy conditions, Sharapova served 12 double faults in the match and was easily broken in many games. But Randwanska said it would be wrong to credit the tough conditions for her win.
"It was so windy and it was tough to serve," said Radwanska. "I had problems, too, but she made many mistakes and double faults and she looked a little bit nervous."
Radwanksa will face Shahar Peer of Israel or Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic in the next round.