Sharapova Zone

Maria into clay court final

gareth — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 23:48:51 +0000

Maria Sharapova reached her 1st claycourt final on Saturday after 16th seeded American Lindsay Davenport withdrew from their scheduled match due to illness. Maria was 0-3 career in claycourt semifinals prior to the walkover win at this 600,000 dollar clay court event.

The top seed will be after her third title of the year and the 19th of her career on Sunday when she faces Dominika Cibulkova. Maria has never played the 34th-ranked Slovak before who is appearing in her maiden WTA Tour final on Sunday.

Maria eager for the olympics

gareth — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:37:49 +0000

Tennis greatness is measured in Grand Slam triumphs, but that doesn’t make the game’s best players immune to the lure of Olympic gold.

Maria Sharapova, who captured the third Grand Slam title of her career at the Australian Open in January, is eager to soak up the Olympic atmosphere. “The Olympics comes around only once every four years, and the US Open is there every single year,” she said. “It has been a dream of mine ever since I was a little girl.”

Part of the appeal to Maria is that the Olympics will be completely different from the week after week tournaments on the tour. “Usually, you have sort of an idea of what things are going to be like, but I’m really clueless,” she said. “One of the things I’m really looking forward to is the opening ceremony and walking with athletes from my country in front of thousands of people.”

Maria said she would love a chance to attend another sport, especially gymnastics or rhythmic gymnastics. “When I was younger I wanted to be a rhythmic gymnast,” she said. “In Russia, rhythmic gymnastics and figure skating are an art form and I was always intrigued by that,” added Sharapova, who recalled rollerblading with a makeshift ribbon as a youngster. “I’d be rolling around my garage,” she said. “I’d just be rollerblading and waving the ribbon. I thought I was in the Olympics.”

Maria at Sony Ericsson Kickoff Party

gareth — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 23:53:50 +0000

Some pictures of Maria Sharapova at a Sony Ericsson Kickoff Party.

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Maria attending a LA Lakers game

gareth — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:57:28 +0000

Some pictures of Maria Sharapova attending the Los Angeles Lakers game against the Golden State Warriors at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

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Maria makes good start in Indian Wells

gareth — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:49:57 +0000

Australian Open champion Maria Sharapova maintained her perfect start to the season with a win in the 1st round of the Pacific Life Open on Sunday. weathered an untidy opening set to

The 4th seed Russian swept aside Eleni Daniilidou of Greece 7-5 6-3 in a 3rd round encounter at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden to record her 16th successive victory of the year.

“It was a very scratchy match from my side from the beginning,” Maria said after beating Daniilidou for the sixth time in six career meetings.

“I was just not seeing the ball well, not moving that great. She doesn’t quite give you a lot of rhythm, which I should pick up really fast, and I didn’t do that well today.

“But it got better towards the end of the second set. I started seeing the ball better and moving in. I was just not moving in after my shots at all.”

Sharapova, who won her third grand slam crown at the Australian Open in January before claiming her 18th WTA title in Doha the following month, knows very little about her next opponent, Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko.

“I can’t say too much, because I’ve never played against her and I haven’t watched too much of her on TV,” Maria said.

Maria at premiere of 10,000 BC

gareth — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:24:23 +0000

Some pictures of Maria Sharapova wearing a black dress at premiere of 10,000 BC.

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Maria wins 2008 Qatar Open

gareth — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:45:29 +0000

Maria Sharapova won her 2nd WTA Qatar Open in as many appearances with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-0 victory over fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva in the final at Khalifa International Tennis complex in Doha.

Maria, who won also won the title in 2005, proved too strong for her compatriot in the ultimate match of the $2.5 million Tier 1 tournament, even though Maria lost her way in the second set. The 20-year-old is currently undefeated in 2008 with 14 wins from 14 matches spanning the Australian Open, Russia’s Fed Cup tie against Israel, and now the Qatar Open.

“Maria played really well, and I think she deserved to win today. I want to congratulate her on her victory,” Zvonareva, ranked 27 in the world, said. “It’s been a great week. I was injured and couldn’t play at the Australian Open, so it’s great to be back here and to make the final.”

Sharapova’s serve was broken in the opening game of the match, but she then went on the rampage to win six games straight and take the first set in quick time as a shell-shocked Zvonareva struggled to find her rhythm. But just when it looked like being an early night for the capacity centre court crowd, Zvonareva raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set and then broke Sharapova again at 5-2, levelling the match at one set each.

Several unforced errors and double faults crept into Maria’s game, while Zvonareva working her way back into the match with plenty of support from the crowd who cheered on the underdog. However, Maria upped her game in the third set as the former world number one drew on all her big match experience to again reel off six straight games and win the Championship in one hour and 31 minutes. “I’d like to congratulate Vera on a great week. To come back from injury is tough. I’ve been there before, and it’s a wonderful effort by her,” Sharapova said of her opponent.

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Maria through to semis of Qatar

gareth — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:24:31 +0000

Maria Sharapova has continued her unbeaten start to the 2008 season as she advanced to the semi-finals of the Qatar Open on Friday. 4th seed, Maria, overwhelmed Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki, 6-0, 6-1, in a one-sided encounter at the $2.5 million event.

Maria has now won all 12 of her matches this season and is showing no signs of slowing down as she goes after the $414,000 first prize. Maria was never broken during the 60-minute match and won 22 from 27 (81%) points on her first-serve.

Maria will attempt to continue on the path toward her 18th career title when she faces 16th seed Agnieszka Radwanska on saturday.

Maria at WTA event opening ceremony

gareth — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 22:32:46 +0000

Some pictures of Maria Sharapova at the opening ceremony of the WTA Qatar Total Open at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex.

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Maria returning to WTA

gareth — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:03:44 +0000

Maria Sharapova will make her first return to the WTA Tour this week after her Australian Open success with predictions that she will soon take the world #1 position away from Justine Henin.

Maria lost only 32 games in 14 sets and seven matches in succeeding in Melbourne last month, including a quarter-final dismantling of Henin, who yesterday won the Antwerp Diamond Games. Maria is now hoping to try and realise predictions that she can move to the top of the women’s world rankings, by overtaking Henin and dominating the game over the next few years.

Henin is not in Doha, which gives Maria the opportunity to close the gap on her. However, the tournament will not be a walkover with the potential for an Australian open final rematch against Serbs Ana Ivanovic and also Jelena Jankovic, the world #3, and possibly Venus Williams and Amélie Mauresmo.