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Sharapova the Last Champ at San Diego
Maria Sharapova beat Patty Schnyder at the first-category tournament in San Diego. This is the last tournament that will be held at that locale. The season has been a mixed one for Sharapova. She played in the final of the Australian Open, the semifinal of Roland Garros and is in second place in the WTA. San Diego was her first tournament win, however.
Sharapova made her competitors work hard but suffered a shoulder injury at Wimbledon that forced her to miss the Federation Cup match against the U.S. team. She also took the opportunity for a much-needed rest, and returned to San Diego in fine form. She had to go to San Diego to warm up for the U.S. Open on August 27 and because she won there last year and had to defend her points.
Sharapova won 36 games and lost 10 against Tamarine Tanasugarn, Tatiana Golovin and Sania Mirza before facing Anna Chakvetadze in the semifinal in San Diego. Sixth-ranked Chakvetadze won in Cincinnati and Stanford while Sharapova was recovering but gave Sharapova little trouble. Schnyder had defeated three Russians in the week leading up to the final – Alla Kudryavtseva, Nadezhda Petrova and Elena Dementyeva – as well as Martina Hingis. But she had only won one match against Sharapova in the last six, and that was on clay, in Rome in 2005. Sharapova's first title of the season was the 16th in her career.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 07, 2007
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