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Kuznetsova Overwhelmed Sharapova, Yielded to Ivanovic
Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia ended the perfect no-loss season of Maria Sharapova, having beaten her (6-3 5-7 6-2) at Pacific Life Open semifinal in Indian Wells, California. But Svetlana missed the title despite the heroic effort against her compatriot.
Australian Open champion Sharapova had won 18 straight matches, including Australian Open and Doha titles, before being stopped by second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Feeling the effects of the toughest schedule - Sharapova is really playing a lot this season and even stood for Russia in the Fed Cup competitions – she lacked the strength to withstand powerful Kuznetsova. Her game wasn’t even in that semifinal with the bursts of activity replaced by collapses.
Maria lost the first set but recovered in the second to lead 4-1. Kuznetsova managed to catch up but only to present the set to the opponent by making a double error in the set-point. Maria had no strength to continue in the decider and was finally outplayed by Svetlana in the match that lasted more than two hours.
So, it was the battle of seed number one and number two in the final, and Russia didn’t triumph there. Confident and always attacking Ana Ivanovic of Serbia easily crushed Kuznetsova (6-4 6-3) on Sunday.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 24, 2008
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