Unflappable Sharapova issuing stern warning
NEW YORK -- There will be no charming, heart-tugging Melanie Oudin scenario this year at the U.S. Open.
The day after Ryan Harrison put on a spectacular second-round show in losing to Sergiy Stakhovsky, fellow 18-year-old Beatrice Capra exited from the National Tennis Center with a whimper.
Capra, from Ellicott City, Md., was on the wrong end of a 6-0, 6-0 score, losing to 2006 Open champion Maria Sharapova. Capra, ranked No. 371 among WTA Tour players, was playing her highest-ever ranked opponent.
The last time there was a double bagel here in the third round? Twenty-six years ago, when Martina Navratilova took out Jennifer Mundel.
"When you're like losing that bad, it's just in your head like, 'Just please let me win one game,'" Capra said, smiling. "I never even thought I was going to play this tournament, so just being in the tournament was amazing. But playing on Arthur Ashe in front of that many people, I'll definitely remember that for the rest of my life. And winning on Grandstand, that was one of the best moments of my life."
Capra, who won the first and second WTA main-draw matches of her life in the first two rounds, hit three winners, compared to 17 for Sharapova.
Sharapova is no stranger to rising American teenagers. Last year here, she blasted 17-year-old Christina McHale off the court 6-2, 6-1 in their second-round match. And then she lost to Oudin in a taut three-set affair.
Capra picked Oudin's brain before her match about how to beat Sharapova. She was trying to become the fifth women's wild card in U.S. Open history (going back to 1987) to advance as far as the fourth round; Martina Hingis (2002), Serena Williams (2006) and Kim Clijsters (2009) were three of them.
In many respects, the first game was Capra's best. Serving in the brutal breeze, she played 14 points (four of them at deuce) and lasted eight minutes before a powerful Sharapova forehand glanced off her racket frame. That game foretold the final result.
"I think I had a little bit too much firepower in the beginning, and that kind of really maybe caught her off guard, and she was late for a few balls," Sharapova said. "And then towards the end of the match, I think she started going for a little bit more and making a few more errors."
Sharapova was once a prodigy herself, that exceedingly rare 17-year-old with the stuff to win a Grand Slam title. Six years later, she is a survivor.
Her long, lithe body has betrayed her; she is only now just returning to form after serious shoulder surgery nearly two years ago. Her left heel/ankle, which muted her piercing shrieks a few weeks ago in Cincinnati, may still be an issue.
And yet, oddly, the one thing that may prevent her from winning this truly wide-open U.S. Open is her signature trait: mental toughness. Or the curious lack of it.
Leading Clijsters 6-2, 5-3 in the Cincinnati final, Sharapova held three match points -- and found a way to lose. She was serving for the match at 5-4 and gave Clijsters the gift of a double fault.
In the absence of Serena and Justine Henin, it's not inconceivable that these two women -- Clijsters, the defending champion after an abrupt retirement, and Sharapova, who has had a four-year sabbatical here since winning in 2006 -- in the final.
It's a logical thought since only two other women in the field have won here -- Venus Williams (2000-01) and Svetlana Kuznetsova (2004). But in tennis terms, that was quite a while ago. With Sharapova nursing that ankle injury, Clijsters playing with a sore hip and Venus coming off a two-month layoff after Wimbledon due to a knee injury, health will be a huge factor in navigating seven matches.
No one tries harder, or seems to care more about each point. The fact is, Sharapova hasn't had a lot of big-time matches this year. Before the recent tournaments at Stanford and Cincinnati, it had been nearly a year since she had beaten a top-10 player. That changed when she decked Elena Dementieva and Agnieszka Radwanska -- and Kuznetsova, too -- with a bigger game that suggests her shoulder is recovered.
The ultimate test will come Monday when Sharapova meets No. 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round.
"I still have to play my game," Sharapova said. "I still have to be aggressive. She's the type of opponent that's going to make you hit a lot of balls and is going to make you hit the extra ball. I think I have to be aggressively patient."
Who do you think will win the tournament, Sharapova was asked, yourself of somebody else?
"That's a funny question," she said. "Going into a tournament, if you think that anyone else is going to win but you, you've got some serious problems. You shouldn't enter it."
The Wizard of Woz
She is a sunny, delightful 20-year-old -- and, in the absence of Serena Williams, the No. 1 seed here at the U.S. Open.
Believe it or not, since the beginning of 2008, Caroline Wozniacki has won more singles titles than any other player on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour circuit (10), one more than Williams. She and Flavia Pennetta have won more matches than anyone this year (47) and since 2007, Wozniacki has won more (171) than any other woman.
Why, then, do many expert scenarios have her losing to Maria Sharapova in the fourth round?
Maybe because Wozniacki has yet to build a stellar résumé against the elite players. It's been 18 months since she beat a player ranked in the top five (Elena Dementieva in Charleston), but to be fair, she's had only three opportunities, all last year. Wozniacki lost to Williams at the 2009 year-end championships, Dementieva in Cincinnati and Dinara Safina in Madrid.
Overall, Wozniacki's 3-12 against top-five players and 1-4 against top-10 opponents in Grand Slams events.
Yung-Jan Chan, who Wozniacki beat 6-1, 6-0 on Saturday, would not be confused with a top-10 player. In fact, the 21-year-old Chinese Taipei is ranked No. 77, the kind of player Wozniacki feasts on.
Through three rounds, Wozniacki has, amazingly, lost only three games. That's the fewest games ever conceded at a U.S. Open for a player with three full matches, going to 1981, when the 128-player draw was instituted. You have to go back 16 years (Mary Pierce, Roland Garros) to find a better number (2) in a major.
Sharapova, who won all 12 of her games against 18-year-old Beatrice Capra, will be a handful.
"I think we're different players," Wozniacki said. "I feel like I'm maybe moving a bit better. I'm placing the balls better a little bit, but she's maybe hitting the balls harder. She has won Grand Slams; I haven't.
"My time will come. If it won't come now, it will come tomorrow, so I'm not afraid of that."
Quote-a-licious
"It was nice, I mean, except that 99.9 percent of the people were against me." -- Sergiy Stakhovsky after beating 18-year-old American Ryan Harrison on the Grandstand court Friday.
Et cetera
• Remember Richard Gasquet? Eight years ago -- at the age of 16 -- he was the youngest player ranked in the top 200 at the end of the year. He won his first title at 18 and marked himself as a future top-10 player. The Frenchman achieved that promise only very briefly, reaching No. 7 three years ago in his best season (49-24) on record. But after reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon, it's been a lean period for Gasquet. Now, at the age of 24, he seems to be back. Gasquet defeated Kevin Anderson 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-5 to advance to an all-French fourth-round match versus Gael Monfils.
• Two days after going 4 hours, 59 minutes to win his first-round match, Kei Nishikori retired in the second set of his encounter against Albert Montanes. The 20-year-old Japanese player was trailing 6-2, 2-1 when a groin injury prevented him from continuing.
• Don't look now, but Robin Soderling is headed back to the quarterfinals. He's a match away from replicating last year's feat and will face Albert Montanes. Soderling, you may remember, ended Roger Federer's run of 23 consecutive major semifinals at Roland Garros this year. His semifinals opponent? Most likely Federer.
• Janko Tipsarevic, the inconsistent Serb, stunned Andy Roddick in the second round. In the third, he fell back to earth, losing to Monfils 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4.
Critic's Choice
Kim Clijsters versus Ana Ivanovic: The last time these two met, less than a month ago in Cincinnati, Ivanovic retired after 12 minutes with a sprained ankle. Through three rounds, the former world No. 1 has moved pretty well and gone six-for-six in sets, but Clijsters is the defending champion.
ESPN.com prediction: Clijsters in two.
You must be signed in to post a comment