Sharapova, Kuznetsova Rush to Each Other
Russia’s Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva have advanced to the fourth round of Pacific Life Open, which, in essence, could be viewed as another Grand Slam tournament. Nikolay Davydenko and Mikhail Youzhny are through to the round 3 in the men’s section.
Pacific Life Open differs, of course, from the Grand Slam tournaments. It yields much less to the winners – the prize exceeds $3.5 million in the men’s section and equals $2.1 million for ladies, while the prize fund of Australian Open, for instance, was above $18 million this year. On the other hand, these competitions in Indian Wells, California, usually lure all stars of tennis elite.
So, the brilliant performance of Russia’s tennis players there appears especially pleasing. Two of our stars, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova battle in one and the same group. Their path hasn’t been strenuous so far and there are no truly top-ranked players amid their future opponents in the group - Sharapova next plays Alena Bondarenko, while Kuznetsova faces Caroline Wozniachki. So, the chance is solid that Maria and Svetlana will fight each other for reaching the final.
Vera Zvonareva, who is in the round 4 similar to Kuznetsova and Sharapova, isn’t so advantageous. She will probably make a quick work over Casey Dellacqua but only to attempt to dismiss Lindsay Davenport in the next effort. Even if Vera prevails over Lindsay, the worst is still to come for her, as she will have to overwhelm the winner of Serbian battle - Ana Ivanovic or Jelena Jankovic – en route to the final.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 19, 2008
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