Tennis

Kuznetsova beats Sharapova in Key Biscayne final

(AP)
Updated: 2006-04-02 11:11

KEY BISCAYNE, Florida _ For 90 minutes Svetlana Kuznetsova kept Maria Sharapova on the run, dashing from corner to corner in vain pursuit of a championship.

As a weary Sharapova found herself on the verge of defeat, she went scrambling yet again after a shot and exclaimed, "Ai-yi-yi."

The crowd laughed, and Kuznetsova won the exchange to reach match point. The former U.S. Open champion then finished with an ace for her first tournament title in 18 months, beating Sharapova 6-4, 6-3 Saturday at the Nasdaq-100 Open.

"I was not expecting this, but I was doing my best," Kuznetsova said. "I wanted this trophy badly."

Seeded 12th, she won the all-Russian final thanks to a superior serve and forehand, repeatedly driving Sharapova into one corner and then hitting a winner into the other.

The No. 4-seeded Sharapova finished as runner-up at Key Biscayne for the second year in a row. She said she was "a little tired" after winning 11 consecutive matches this month, including the final at Indian Wells.

"Physically it was very difficult to keep up with Svetlana today," Sharapova said. "I just wasn't physically ready to run down a lot of balls."

And what about the exclamation, "Ai-yi-yi?"

"At that point in the match," Sharapova said, "maybe if you laugh, something will happen."

During her semifinal victory over Tatiana Golovin, Sharapova drew jeers from the crowd when she took a toilet break perceived as gamesmanship after she failed to convert four match points.

There was no jeering during the final, but the crowd rooted for Kuznetsova from the start. She smiled when asked why.

"I don't want to get into that," she said. "I heard a lot about the match in the semifinals. ... For me, it's a bit unusual, to play Maria and have the crowd behind you."