The third day of Moscow Kremlin Cup tennis tournament was marked by stunning defeats of two big names. One of them is the Kremlin Cup 2nd seed Maria Sharapova, on the photo, who yielded to Victoria Azarenko of Belarus.
Photo: Alexey Kudenko
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Short of Luck in Russia
The third day of Moscow Kremlin Cup tennis tournament was marked by stunning defeats of two big names. Russia’s Vera Zvonareva easily prevailed over former world number one Amelie Mauresmo, while the Kremlin Cup 2nd seed Maria Sharapova yielded to Victoria Azarenko of Belarus. In the men’s section, Igor Andreev advanced to the next round to face his compatriot Marat Safin.
Florida-based Maria Sharapova and Moscow Kremlin Cup are incompatible, it is clear already. Really, Sharapova first lost at the Kremlin Cup the year before last, withdrew from it because of the injury in 2006 and has been crushed this year.
Sharapova was a shadow of herself yesterday when she was facing world number 32 Azarenko, having failed to manifest a half of her talent. Former Wimbledon and U.S. Open winner, Maria proved unable to concentrate in the crucial moment and was beaten in two straight sets by a girl, who has had no tournament victories on the record so far.
In the next effort, Azarenko will play Russia’s Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals.
Earlier, Vera Zvonareva finally beat Amelie Mauresmo (4-6 6-3 6-4) contrary to most expectations – Zvonareva yielded at all seven previous meetings against the Frenchwoman. After losing the first four games in a row, Zvonareva caught the rhythm and staked on the changing tempo to show that dreadful Mauresmo was unready for abrupt style.
In addition to Zvonareva and Dementieva, Dinara Safina, Vera Dushevina and Svetlana Kuznetsova will play in the next round of the Kremlin Cup.
The things are on the move in the men’s section of the tournament. Once world number one charismatic Marat Safin outplayed promising Denis Matsukevich and emphasized solid potential of Denis after the match.
Safin will next face 2005 Kremlin Cup winner Igor Andreev, who is the favorite today despite past year’s loss to Marat in Valencia. Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny has also advanced to the next round.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 11, 2007
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