Sharapova wins epic battle

MELBOURNE: Maria Sharapova was ready to play three or four hours but didn't need to. Serena Williams did and ended up with two losses to show for it.

Fifth-ranked Sharapova ended No 1 Justine Henin's 32-match winning streak 6-4, 6-0 yesterday to advance to the Australian Open semifinals for the fourth straight year.

Williams, who beat Sharapova in last year's final, was ousted 6-3, 6-4 by Jelena Jankovic, then teamed with sister Venus to lose their women's doubles match - spending a total of three-and-a-half hours on court.

Sharapova was beaten by Henin at the season-ending championships in Madrid two months ago in one of the longest-ever women's tour matches - 3 hours and 24 minutes - and had a 2-6 record against the Belgian.

"I came into the match really prepared to play a three- to four-hour match," Sharapova said.

Instead, she came out hot on a cool night, constantly putting pressure on Henin and refusing to wilt when things got tight.

"It's just incredible," Sharapova said. "I think it was one of the most consistent matches where I did all the things I wanted to do. I had to be aggressive. When I'm playing well, that's what I do. I want to be the one that's forcing their errors. I did a really good job of that today."

She was looking forward to taking on Jankovic.

"We kind of grew up together, practicing at the same academy," Sharapova said. "It's a bit strange. We were always doing the same thing, playing the same groups. It was both of our dreams playing in a Grand Slam, especially playing each other. We've always played really tough and we've always battled it out."

On the men's side, second-ranked Rafael Nadal had a 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 win over No 24 Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, making the semifinals for the first time in four trips to the Australian Open.

"Maybe I wasn't playing my best match, my best tennis today, but it was enough," Nadal said. "It's a good moment for me, first semifinals on hardcourt, Grand Slam."

The only player to beat Roger Federer in the last 10 Grand Slam tournaments, Nadal will face unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the biggest surprise of the tournament so far, who ousted No 14 Mikhail Youzhny 7-5, 6-0, 7-6 (6).

Tsonga, ranked 38th, is playing in only his fifth Grand Slam tournament - partly due to a rash of injuries - and had never gotten past the fourth before.

It was the first time that Henin had lost a set 6-0 since she was beaten in the first round at the 2002 French Open 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 by Aniko Kapros, a qualifier from Hungary.

Now she'll have to try to start a new winning streak.

"It's very hard to be at your best level all the time, and I'll have to think about that and build again for the future," Henin said.

Jankovic was seeded third and Williams seventh so, on paper, her victory wasn't an upset. But as well as Jankovic has been in rising through the rankings, she has never reached the final of a Grand Slam, while Williams seemed to be close to the form that she once used to dominate women's tennis.

"My shots just weren't right," Williams said. "I didn't move the way I traditionally want to move, and I wasn't feeling 100 percent. But as an athlete, you know not every day you're going to feel 100 percent, and some days you have to win feeling 30 percent.

"I'm not going to sit here and make excuses," she added, refusing to specify what was wrong with her physically. "I lost because Jelena played better than me and I made too many errors. I think regardless, the match was on my racket, and I gave it away."

Williams beat Jankovic in the fourth round here last year, and there was little cause to think this would be any different, especially with the Serbian woman still not completely recovered from a thigh injury suffered shortly before the tournament began.

"Getting revenge, it feels so good," Jankovic said. "I'm like a wounded animal. I still keep going.

"It was an unbelievable match. I am still shaking. I came out very strong, and I was going for my shots. Especially my backhand down the line was working unbelievably, and that's how I hurt my opponent."

Chinese pair Yan Zi and Jie Zheng inflicted more pain on the Williams clan by beating Serena and Venus in the doubles quarterfinals.

Serena tried to back up from her loss to Jankovic just hours earlier to team with sister Venus as they sought a third title at Melbourne Park.

But Serena's day went from bad to worse when the Chinese seventh seeds rallied from a set down to walk away 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 winners.

It earned them a semifinal against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Israeli Shahar Peer, the 12th seeds.

Agencies and AFP

(China Daily 01/23/2008 page24)