Monday, Jun. 2, 2003. Page 24

Russia's Zvonareva Dumps Venus From Open.

By Ossian Shine
Reuters


No. 22 seed Vera Zvonareva making a forehand return during her shock 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over No. 2 Venus Williams in the fourth round of the French Open on Sunday. Lionel Cironneau / AP

PARIS -- A humble Russian teenager smashed the Williams sisters' grand slam stranglehold Sunday, ousting Venus from the fourth round of the French Open.

As Serena Williams sat stony-faced in the crowd, Vera Zvonareva played the match of her life to beat third seed Venus 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Defeat for the American rules out a fifth successive grand slam final between the siblings. Top seed and defending champion Serena had beaten Venus in the last four finals.

The French crowd rose as one and saluted the 18-year-old as she clinched the stunning win after an hour and 58 minutes of center court drama.

"If you go to the court and believe you can win, you can win," Zvonareva said with tears in her eyes. "I did it."

Playing down the victory that gives hope to all who had begun considering the Williams sisters invincible, the Russian said: "I was just playing my game.

"I've played like this since I was 6 years old," she added, explaining the tireless running that wore Williams down.

"I'm just too tired to be excited," smiled the No. 22 seed, before leaving courtside.

Zvonareva had made her grand slam debut here last year and on that occasion was beaten by Serena in the fourth round.

Sunday's victory was sweet revenge and, having said previously that her most memorable experience was losing to fellow Russian Nadia Petrova 6-0, 6-0 aged 8-years-old, the teenager may now want to think again.

Serena earlier reached the last eight with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Ai Sugiyama of Japan and will next meet Amelie Mauresmo, the French fifth seed who beat Spain's Magui Serna 6-1 6-2.

One American who had no intention of being upstaged was Andre Agassi, and the seasoned warrior marched straight into the quarterfinals with a performance of supreme confidence.

As his younger rivals have fallen by the wayside, the 33-year-old second seed has got stronger and tougher on the Roland Garros clay.

On Sunday, Flavio Saretta was his victim. The Brazilian had already ousted a former champion and world No. 1 in Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Agassi, though, is hewn from different stuff.

With a boldness borne from 18 years at the pinnacle of the sport, Agassi dominated center court, sinking his opponent 6-2, 6-1, 7-5 in 103 minutes.

"I knew the first week was going to be crucial for me," he said.

"It turned out to be really crucial to get through that second-round match [where Agassi had trailed Mario Ancic two sets to love].

"So now it's like basically a new life. I've sort of found my comfort zone out there."

Kim Clijsters will also be feeling a lot more comfortable after a remarkable comeback in her fourth-round match.

The Belgian's relief was palpable when she recovered from the shock of losing the opening set of her match with Magdalena Maleeva in which she did not win a game.

In truth, Clijsters' 0-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory was largely down to her opponent's utter capitulation, and she will have to be more on the ball when she faces Conchita Martinez in the quarterfinals.

Martinez advanced when sixth seed Lindsay Davenport retired from their match trailing 6-4, 2-0 with a right foot injury.

Birthday girl Justine Henin-Hardenne fought her way into the quarterfinals with a well-earned 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 win over Patty Schnyder.

A former top 10 player, Schnyder took a set off the Belgian for the first time in the tournament but in the end was powerless to prevent her marching through on the day she turned 21.

Henin-Hardenne, a semifinalist here in 2001, will next face eighth seed Chanda Rubin, who beat Hungary's Petra Mandula 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.

The 1998 champion, Carlos Moya, advanced smoothly by beating Czech Jiri Novak 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 in some style. He will meet Martin Verkerk of the Netherlands, who ousted 11th-seeded German Rainer Schuttler 6-3, 6-3, 7-5.

Tuesday, Jun. 3, 2003. Page 24

Russian Surprises Set to Face Off.

Reuters PARIS -- Vera Zvonareva's most memorable experience before this year's French Open was losing 6-0, 6-0 to Nadia Petrova when she was aged just 8 -- now the two Russians will meet again in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.

The pair caused the biggest upsets of the women's draw so far on Sunday with Zvonareva beating third-seeded Venus Williams 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, while the 20-year-old Petrova downed seventh seed Jennifer Capriati 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to set up their quarterfinal clash.

"You know, I thought I had pretty good chances in this tournament," a stunned Capriati said after her loss to Petrova. "It goes to show, you never know.

"But she's definitely a good player and a dangerous player and when she's on, she's on," Capriati added.

"I think she had a pretty good, different strategy out there."

Capriati said Petrova could go on to win the tournament if she continued playing in the same vein.

Despite the thrashing she received from Petrova a decade ago on the outside courts of a Moscow tennis academy, Zvonareva was the first of the pair to win a WTA tour title -- earlier this year at Bol in Croatia.

The 18-year-old showed no fear or respect for the much vaunted Williams on Sunday.

"I had never met her, never seen her. I did not know what to expect. I just fought for each point," she said. "Of course it's a big win but the tournament still continues for me."

Zvonareva first made an impression on the circuit at Roland Garros last year, when she reached the fourth round as a qualifier and took eventual champion, and current world No. 1 Serena Williams, to a third set.

"I don't have any fear going into a tournament. I just go on court and try to play my game."

Petrova, who moved to Egypt as a child, said she did not remember the match against Zvonareva.

"To be honest I don't remember that match at all," Petrova said.

"I left Russia with my parents to move to Egypt when I was 11 and I lost all connections with my past.

"I don't have better ties with Russian players than with others."

The pair have not only moved from out of the shadows of their more illustrious compatriot, Anna Kournikova, but also highlighted the depth of Russian tennis.

There were 11 Russians in the women's draw at Roland Garros this year, a first for a country that is more well-known on the men's tour with players like Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

"Tennis is really big [in Russia], there's a lot of girls and boys playing since they're 7 and 8," Zvonareva said.

"I think everybody wants to be the best since there are hundreds of us.

"Maybe that's why there are lots of girls on the tour. Because people love tennis in Russia right now."

Magdalena Maleeva Won Her 10th title.

Standartnews

Magdalena Maleeva snatched her first cup on lawn. The Bulgarian needed 65 minutes to steamroll by 6-1, 6-4 Japanese Shinobu Asagoe (ranking No 103 in the world) at the final in Birmingham (UK, $170,000). Of the now acting tennis players, only 11 have more tournament wins than Magie. In October 2002, Maleeva won her latest title at the Kremlin Cup tournament in Moscow. The success of Magie came 17 years after the loss of her eldest sister Manuela at the final of the same tournament. "I feel great. I made an excellent training session for Wimbledon, so I can't even wish more than that,' exclaimed 28-year-old Magie who has registered five wins on her way to the trophy. Moreover, she gained $27,000 and from early-season on, she accumulated $266,228. In the new ranking list released today, Maleeva most likely will climb up to No 12.

12:47 2003-06-17

13 Russian women tennis players figure in WTA rating list of 100 best players.

For the first time in the history of tennis 13 representatives of Russia figure in the rating list of the 100 top players of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), it was learnt after the publishing of the new version of the rating list the day before.

Anastasia Myskina who ranks 10th with 2,106 points remains, as before, the best Russian female player. Elena Dementyeva has retained her 15th place (1,593 points) from last week, while Vera Zvonareva has gone up from the 20th to the 16th line with 1,511 points.

Special attention should be paid to 16-year-old Maria Sharapova, who last week reached a semi-final at the tournament in Burmingham, which enabled her to advance at once 37 lines ahead - from 125th place to 88th (411.25 points).

Alongside the above-said Russian women players, the rating list of the top 100 includes also: 22. Yelena Bovina (1,379.50 points), 30. Nadezhda Petrova (1,004.25), 32. Yelena Likhovtseva (941), 34. Svetlana Kuznetsova (903.25), 37. Tatyana Panova (858), 45. Lina Krasnorutskaya (757), 61. Dinara Safina (589.25), 76. Anna Kournikova (474.50), and 95. Yevgeniya Kulikovskaya (384.25).

The leaders of the rating list are the same as before. Number One in the world is Serena Williams from the USA with 6,006 points, followed with a wide gap by Belgian Kim Clijsters, her compatriot Justine Henin-Hardenne, and the older of the Williams sisters, Venus.

© RIAN

Monday, Jun. 30, 2003. Page 15

Sharapova Dazzling at Wimbledon.

By Steven Wine
The Associated Press


Russia's Maria Sharapova responding to the Wimbledon crowd after beating Jelena Dokic in their third-round match on Saturday. Dave Caulkin / AP

WIMBLEDON, England -- Born in Siberia and raised in Florida, Maria Sharapova is blossoming at Wimbledon.

The well-traveled Russian has been a lot of places in her 16 years, and now she is in the fourth round at the world's most prestigious tennis tournament. Sharapova advanced Saturday by upsetting 2000 Wimbledon semifinalist Jelena Dokic 6-4, 6-4.

The photogenic Sharapova has drawn comparisons to Anna Kournikova and complaints about the shrieks that sometimes accompany her strokes.

Now the attention is on how she's winning.

By reaching the fourth round, Sharapova matched the best showing by a female wild card at Wimbledon. Three others achieved the feat, most recently Samantha Smith of Britain in 1998.

"I'm very happy, and I'm very surprised," Sharapova said. "I'm very young, I'm 16, and I'm in the fourth round at Wimbledon. How odd is that? But I knew that one day it would come. I am surprised, but it's just reality."

She will be joined in the second week by such stars as defending champion Serena Williams, Jennifer Capriati and French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne. All won in straight sets.

Playing in the tournament for the first time, Sharapova is the youngest of five Russians among the women's final 16, a Grand Slam record.

Three of Sharapova's compatriots won Saturday -- No. 10 Anatasia Myskina, No. 15 Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova.

"We have so many girls in the top 100," Sharapova said. "It's wonderful to see."

Sharapova may turn out to be the best of the bunch. Born in the city of Nyagan, she moved to the Black Sea resort of Sochi at age 2, began playing tennis at 4 and has lived in Florida since she was 6.

She says her passport and blood are Russian, but she trains at Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy in Bradenton and also works in Los Angeles with Robert Lansdorp, who coached Tracy Austin.

Sharapova speaks fluent English, and when she describes her tennis regimen she sounds like Yogi Berra.

"Half of my time is in Florida, half of my time is in L.A.," she said. "When I'm at tournaments, that's another half of my time."

Ranked 91st, Sharapova lost her first five matches this year and made opening-round exits at the Australian and French Opens.

But she found her form on grass and has decided it's her favorite surface.

She reached the semifinal two weeks ago at Birmingham, a Wimbledon warmup event. She also drew a warning there to tone down her grunting, but against Dokic there were few shrieks until the final points.

Sharapova won every game she served and closed the victory with her eighth ace. Then she gleefully dropped her racket and made a prayerful gesture to the sky.

Her showing is reminiscent of the first appearance at Wimbledon by Dokic, who upset No. 1 Martina Hingis in the first round in 1999 and went on to the quarterfinals. Dokic was then 16.

Sharapova plays Kuznetsova on Monday.

"She just comes out and swings," Dokic said. "She has nothing to lose. A lot of players still don't know the way that she plays.

"When you come out on the court against her, you don't know what to expect. But it will be a different story in a year or two."

Friday, Aug. 22, 2003. Page 20

Russians Set for Tennis Takeover.

By Stephen Wood
Reuters

ANAHEIM, California -- Through sheer weight of numbers, Russian tennis is waiting confidently for the one moment that will ignite a takeover of the women's game.

With no fewer than 11 players in the top 100, the likes of Anastasia Myskina, Elena Dementieva, Dinara Safina and Lina Krasnoroutskaya have almost enough highly-ranked compatriots to rival a production of the Bolshoi ballet.

But until one of them lands a grand slam title, this apparent golden era may ultimately prove as fantastical as Swan Lake or The Nutcracker.

Time, however, is on Russia's side, for nine of the 11 elite are aged 22 or younger.

Myskina has the honor of acting as principal dancer. Ranked eighth in the world and enjoying her breakthrough year, Myskina, 22, is the one most likely to achieve success at next week's U.S. Open in New York.

Myskina was a child when Russians celebrated the fall of the former Soviet Union in 1991, but now she is fully aware of its impact on her and her friends' ambitions in tennis.

"The rise in Russian tennis is definitely because of [the end of the old regime]," she said earlier this year.

"Because we can travel more, we can all play more tournaments. When it was the Soviet Union, only two players from the country could travel. But now anyone who has money can do that."

Myskina's persistence paid off with a quarterfinal appearance at the Australian Open in January and a fourth-round finish at Wimbledon in June.

While she aims to go further, Dementieva, 21, is attempting to recapture the form which vaulted her to the semifinals of the U.S. Open in 2000.

Since then, the she has failed to go beyond the fourth round of a grand slam, so the onus is on the Muscovite to show her 2000 odyssey was no fluke.

Behind world No. 12 Dementieva in the rankings are experienced campaigners in Likhovtseva and Tatiana Panova, two emerging 20-somethings in Nadia Petrova and Elena Bovina and five teenagers who are the real cause of Russia's excitement.

Prime among them is 16-year-old Vera Zvonareva, who boasts quarterfinal and fourth-round appearances at the French Open and Wimbledon this year.

Then comes Krasnoroutskaya, the 19-year-old from Obninsk and the conqueror of Kim Clijsters in Toronto last week, and Svetlana Kuznetsova, an 18-year-old from St. Petersburg who reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2003. Maria Sharapova, 16, and Dinara Safina, the 17-year-old sister of former men's world No. 1 Marat Safin, have already enjoyed success in their short careers.

Even more gratifying for the WTA is that the glamorous quintet are not lacking in appeal beyond the tennis court, giving Russian tennis and the game as a whole a future it is eager not to waste.

Bulgarian Tennis Prodigy Scatters World Ranking.

Novinite.com
Sports: 22 March 2004, Monday

Bulgaria's sensation-making Sesil Karatancheva climbed up 75 spots in world ranking, after her appearance at the Pacific Life Open in California.

The 14-year-old tennis player jumped from No 282 to 207.

Sesil was the youngest participant in the Pacific Life Open tournament. She left everyone amazed after knocking off ex-Wimbledon semifinalist Alexandra Stevenson and Spanish Federation Cupper Magui Serna.

Karatancheva stirred some controversy by showing up with a t-shirt saying "California knockout", and her bald, straightforward personality left many journalists stunned.

Then the Bulgarian teen was defeated by Russia's Maria Shaparova, aged 16. Despite that loss, Sesil hit the big time with regard to getting public attention, and her name landed on tens of news headlines around the globe.

Bulgarian Tennis Prodigy Triumphs with Grand Slam.

Novinite.com
Sports: 6 June 2004, Sunday

Sesil Karatancheva, 14, has been victorious at the girls' finals of Roland Garros.

Karatancheva had an easy day at the office, despite falling behind 1-3 in the fist set. But the aggressive Bulgarian, managed by famed coach Nick Bolletieri, regrouped and nailed eleven of the last twelve games to finish off her hapless opponent in 66 minutes on Court Two.

Sesil Karatancheva, the No1 seed, gave Romanian Madalina Gojnea a 6-4 6-0 beating.

The WTA 198-seeded Karatancheva is the fourth Bulgarian to triumph with the Grand Slam repeating the success of the legendary three Maleeva sisters, in 1982, 1984 and 1990.

Sesil Karatancheva has stormed to the top of this year's French Open, pursed USD 15,915,936, without a single set lost.

There will be no rematch at Wimbledon as Karatancheva is limited by tour rules to the number of tournaments she can play.

However, once she turns 15 in August, she intends to play US Open qualifiers followed by the senior women's events at the Australian and French Opens and Wimbledon in 2005.

Karatancheva is based in Florida where she trains at the Bolleteri Tennis Academy and it's from there that she will launch her bid for more titles.

"This is a real big step for me but I don't consider myself a star. I'm having fun and although I'm proud to be Bulgarian, I consider myself to be a kid of the world."


Bulgarian teen Sesil Karatancheva (R) stormed to the French Open girls title, beating Romania's Madalina Gojnea (L). The bubbly tennis prodigy promised to keep speaking her mind even if it does get her into hot water. Photo by FFT.

Sharapova Realizes Her Dream a Year or So Ahead of Schedule.

New York Times
By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY


WIMBLEDON, England, July 4 - Maria Sharapova's coach, Robert Lansdorp, has been around tennis parents long enough to have some concerns that her remarkable victory at Wimbledon could start a trend.

"Now everybody will go to Siberia and have their child born there," Lansdorp said, laughing. "You know how crazy some tennis people are."

But according to Lansdorp, the secret to the success of Sharapova, his longtime pupil, does not lie in her Siberian birthplace or the hardships she experienced after her father, Yuri, decided to take her from Russia to the United States when she was 7.

"I'm not a psychiatrist, but I don't necessarily think having a very tough life is going to make you a champion," he said in a telephone interview from California after Sharapova's 6-1, 6-4 victory over Serena Williams in the final on Saturday. "I think it's just an inborn kind of quality, the sort of mental toughness that Maria has. I think she is determined to make something out of herself in everything she does."

Lansdorp, who has worked regularly with Sharapova since she was 11, has helped shape the games of several Grand Slam champions, including Pete Sampras, Tracy Austin and Lindsay Davenport. Austin was a year younger than the 17-year-old Sharapova when she won her first major title at the 1979 United States Open.

"Tracy was almost the same," Lansdorp said. "They want it so bad. They fight so hard. They are so basically relaxed in the confidence to be able to do it.

"To be honest, this came a little bit earlier than I expected. Maria's development was good, but she was struggling with some knee problems two years ago. Her serve didn't have the strength. She was growing quickly. I always said that she was going to be great, but it probably wasn't going to be until she was 18½ or 19. But she just pulled herself together."

It helped that Sharapova faced two big, relatively flat hitters in the last two rounds in Davenport and Williams, instead of more subtle opponents, like the absent No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, who are more prone to changing pace and tactics and to hitting crisply chipped backhands that stay low on the grass.

But even if Sharapova had been facing the pace she relished, she required the faith in her instincts to hit the winners and second serves on the biggest stage imaginable. She had been forthright about her intention to win Wimbledon. It simply came a year or two or three before she expected it.

"I mean I thought Wimbledon was just my dream to win, and now, of course, my goal is to be No. 1 in the world," she said.

For now, she will have to settle for being No. 8 and for being in considerable demand. Although she still had a cold, she was expected to arrive Monday in New York, where she will make television appearances. There will also be increased demand from sponsors and tournament promoters, even though Sharapova's schedule is still restricted by WTA rules because she has not yet turned 18.

"To tell you the truth, I know that things will start coming up, many more people will want to start getting involved, but I just want to keep my head cool," she said, adding that she intended to let her management company, I.M.G.; her father; and other advisers take care of those issues. "Because I'm not into it really, that business. I just go out, and I just play tennis."

For now, the plan is for her to play later this month in the California tournaments in Carson and San Diego, then take time off to prepare for the United States Open with Lansdorp. Because selections were made before she won Wimbledon, Sharapova has not been named to the Russian Olympic team, which will compete in late August before the United States Open. But who knows what could happen between now and Aug. 13, when the Olympics begin?

What is clear is that tennis has a new star. "It's great for women's tennis," Martina Navratilova said. "It's the best thing that could have happened to us really. And obviously it's great for her."

According to Yuri Sharapov, Navratilova spotted his daughter at a tennis clinic in Moscow when she was 5 and suggested taking her to Florida and the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, owned by I.M.G.

"What a talent," Navratilova said. "She's just been very focused on what she wanted to do, extremely committed to her cause, and she loves to play. That's the best part. She wants to be out there. She doesn't want to be anywhere else. You see that. Yes, she's got her father that's behind her. But she's there because she wants to be there, not because he wants to be there."

Tennis parents do have a disturbing history of living vicariously through their children's careers, and Sharapov has clearly sacrificed a great deal to advance his daughter's tennis, leaving his culture and his comfort zone (and, for two years, his wife, Yelena) to take Maria to Florida. Asked last year if he ever believed that the path that began in western Siberia would end up with Maria's playing in a Grand Slam tournament, he said: "It's what God wants and everything is up to him. We just followed his way, and that's it."

Lansdorp and Bollettieri are both complimentary of Yuri.

"I don't know some of these other people; I don't know Mary Pierce or Jelena Dokic," Lansdorp said, referring to players whose fathers acted as coaches and were barred from the Tour for belligerent behavior. "But I tell you one thing: Nobody pulls strings on Maria. Not I.M.G. Not anybody. She is going to do what Maria is going to do."

Lansdorp is convinced that what she is going to do is get better.

"She's not someone who's going to say, 'Robert, sorry, I don't want to hit 50 backhands down the line because I just won Wimbledon,' " he said. "That's not Maria. She wants more."