Maria Sharapova saved her most piercing shriek to punctuate her final shot of the first set, a thunderous cross-court backhand winner to close out a tiebreaker.
She squealed in satisfaction, then dominated the rest of the way yesterday to beat Karin Knapp 7-6 (4), 6-0 in the third round of the French Open.
The top-ranked Sharapova needed 81 minutes to win the opening set. She squandered a lead and fell behind in the tiebreaker, then benefited from some shaky shots by Knapp.
In the second set, Sharapova played her best tennis of the week.
“It was good to finish it off in two sets,” she said. “I had to change the situation and I did it.”
Sharapova again struggled with her serve and had nine double-faults, giving her 36 in three matches. But she won 11 of 13 points at the net and her ground strokes became more steady in the second set.
After winning the Australian Open in January, Sharapova needs only a French Open title to complete a career Grand Slam. Clay is her least favorite surface, but she became top-seeded at Roland Garros after four-time champion Justine Henin retired two weeks ago.
With no US women left in the tournament, perhaps the Americans can claim 18-year-old Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, who has lived the past two years in Scottsdale, Arizona. The No. 16 seed beat No. 18 Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 6-1 and has lost only six games in three matches this week.
Azarenka took advantage of Schiavone’s weak second serve, winning 23 of those 28 points. Since the start of the year, Azarenka has climbed in the rankings from 30th to a career-high 17th.
“This year I improved a lot my forehand, which was my weak shot,” she said. “Now it’s like my weapon, which helps me a lot.”
Azarenka will play No. 4 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova next, who faced only one break point and beat Nadia Petrova 6-2, 6-1.
Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion, beat Azarenka in their two previous meetings.
“She’s a big player, but she’s also human,” Azarenka said. “I played her two times already. It probably won’t be that scary anymore.”
In her match with Petrova, Kuznetsova hit five aces and lost only five points on her first serve. She said she changed her service motion two months ago.
“I need my serve more than ever, so I’m really focused on it and I feel like I’m doing much better,” Kuznetsova said. “I feel so much power in it, more consistent. I feel really good when I can get everything together.”
Sharapova will play fellow Russian Dinara Safina next, seeded 13th, who defeated Zheng Jie 6-2, 7-5.
In the completion of a match suspended because of darkness, No. 3 Jelena Jankovic beat No. 28 Dominika Cibulkova 7-5, 6-3. Jankovic led 4-2 in the second set when play was halted on Friday.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Akiko Morigami accused a national team coach of asking her to throw a doubles match at the French Open, Japanese media reported yesterday.
A Japanese coach allegedly told Morigami a defeat would boost partner Aiko Nakamura’s chances of qualifying for the Beijing Olympics by freeing her up for a tournament next week, the Jiji Press report said.
“That a coach would say that to me before a match was a shock,” Morigami was quoted as saying after a 6-0 6-1 first-round defeat by Taiwan’s fourth seeds Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung on Friday.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB