Maria Sharapova, one game from becoming the first reigning Wimbledon women's champion to lose in the first round of the US Open, claimed 12 of the last 14 points to defeat Laura Granville 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 Tuesday night.
"My game went off for a while. I went to La-La Land," the 17-year-old Siberian-turned-Floridian said, "but I came back to Earth."
PHOTO: AFP
She wasn't the only top player pushed to the limit on Day 2 at Flushing Meadows: 2000 Open winner Marat Safin of Russia and 11th-seeded Rainer Schuettler of Germany lost, while 2003 runner-up Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain and No. 5 Tim Henman of Britain both needed five sets to advance.
PHOTO: AP
Safin, Schuettler and Ferrero were put in the same quarter of the draw as 2003 champion Andy Roddick, who followed Sharapova in Arthur Ashe Stadium and broke the tournament record with a 152 mph serve during a 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 victory over 17-year-old Scoville Jenkins.
One indication of how players slide from star to afterthought: While Sharapova was on the National Tennis Center's main stage, 2000-2001 Open champ Venus Williams was in the last day-session match on another court.
Made to wait until after 8:30pm to play, because she was scheduled to hit the court after Henman and Ferrero, Williams was broken while serving for the match but eventually pulled out a 6-3, 7-6 (3) win over 64th-ranked Petra Mandula of Hungary.
"What I need to focus on for me right now is the second round," said Williams, seeded No. 11 after a year of injuries and earlier-than-usual losses at majors. "I'm not really thinking ahead too far."
After cruising through the first set against 68th-ranked Granville of Chicago before a subdued crowd, Sharapova was suddenly in trouble late in the second. Down 6-5, Sharapova faced her first break point of the match, which she saved with a 101mph service winner on a second serve. But she double-faulted to grant Granville another break point, then slapped a forehand into the net.
Granville -- never beyond the second round at the Open -- was within a game of a serious surprise, ahead 5-4 in the third set. That's when Sharapova took over, holding at 15, breaking at love with a superb cross-court backhand winner, then holding again at 15.
All the while, the photographers in their courtside pit trained their equipment on the 6-foot Sharapova, who's represented by a modeling agency. Most of the time, about 40 cameras followed her, and one or two followed Granville.
"Wimbledon was an amazing thing, winning it, but now I have to sort of move on," said Sharapova, who came to the Open just 3-3 since becoming the third-youngest champion in 127 years at the All England Club. "You're sort of a celebrity, and people want a piece of you."
When she hit her 10th ace, followed by a service winner, to end it, her sunglasses-wearing father jumped and pounded his fist on his chest. Sharapova mimicked that gesture, then -- just as she did after stunning Serena Williams in Wimbledon's final in July -- went to grab her phone to call Mom.
"It's all about the spirit," Sharapova said after her 2-hour, 9-minute adventure. "Hanging in there, and trying to do your best."
Safin might want to take a note or two.
Late in his 7-6 (5), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 loss to 59th-ranked Tomas Enqvist, Safin grabbed his racket with both hands, leaned forward, and cracked it to the court three times, as if chopping wood with an ax.
It was a brief show of anger, a tiny indication that he cared whether or not he lost in the first round of the Slam he won four years ago. Neither his play nor his words lent much insight.
Just like at Wimbledon, Safin exited at the earliest stage.
"Believe me, I'm trying," Safin said, a grin creeping across his face. "If I would lie to myself, I would say it's Thomas' fault. But I don't want to lie to myself. A huge part of it is my fault, because I let him play well."
The 13th-seeded Russian was broken twice while serving for the first set, waved lazily at shots down the stretch and kept his usual muttering to a minimum.
Compare that effort to Henman's. His poorest Slam results have come at the Open, so he can't call on past success to help, the way Safin could if he wanted.
But battling a bad back that kept him off the practice courts for three days, Henman withstood 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic's 39 aces and toughed it out for more than 3 hours in a 7-6 (3), 6-7 (7), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory. Ferrero had an even longer day, playing 4{ hours to cobble together a 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (4), 6-3 win over Tomas Zib, a Czech qualifier who's never won a Grand Slam match.
"I wasn't going to get frustrated if he was going to serve aces or stuff, because it saved me doing the running," Henman said. "I felt like I kept my head about me pretty well throughout the whole match."
A sentiment Safin isn't ever likely to express, although you never know what he'll come up with.
At the French Open, he caused a stir by dropping his shorts to celebrate a terrific point. At Wimbledon, he said he was fed up with trying to win there and took the time to point out that tennis doesn't belong in the Olympics.
He's been fined for all sorts of things, on and off the court: swearing at a chair umpire, berating a tournament sponsor for not replacing the courtesy car he crashed, failing to show enough effort in a first-round loss to a qualifier at the 2000 Australian Open.
Defending US Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne found herself in some trouble Tuesday, trailing 15-year-old Nicole Vaidisova 4-1 in the second set. But the top-ranked Belgian won the last five games to close out her 6-1, 6-4 victory.
Past winners of Slam titles Lindsay Davenport (who stretched her winning streak to 18 matches), Anastasia Myskina and Mary Pierce all won in straight sets, as did No. 9 Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 14 Nadia Petrova, No. 20 Chanda Rubin, No. 21 Amy Frazier, and No. 26 Elena Bovina. No. 24 Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi and No. 25 Elena Likhovtseva were eliminated.
Sitting with legs crossed during a changeover, Lindsay Davenport waved off the ball girl offering water, saying: "No, thanks. I'm OK."
Is she ever.
The fifth-seeded Davenport stretched her winning streak to 18 matches by beating Lubomira Kurhajcova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-0 Tuesday in the US Open's first round.
Just two months ago, the 28-year-old Davenport was talking about retiring after this season. When she lost to Maria Sharapova in the Wimbledon semifinals, Davenport said it probably would be her final appearance at the All England Club.
First aid
Jiri Novak and Radek Stepanek helped a ballboy who fainted from heat fatigue and dehydration during their match at the US Open.
"He wasn't moving for 20 to 30 seconds. Everyone was scared," Novak said Tuesday.
The 13-year-old passed out a day earlier when he jumped to retrieve a ball with the score tied 5-all in the first set of the first-round match -- played in overbearing humidity -- and fell hard to the court.
Bad break
Ivan Ljubicic quit during his first-round match at the US Open with what could best be called a bad break.
The Olympic doubles bronze medalist, seeded 24th at the Open, had to stop at 1-1 in the third set Tuesday against Lee Hyung-taik because a broken rib hurt too much. How did Ljubicic get injured? A pal wrapped his arms around Ljubicic to crack his back -- and squeezed too hard.
Pain game
Paul Goldstein couldn't believe his luck. Just 90 minutes after qualifying for the US Open last Friday, he went out to play in the World Team Tennis semifinals -- and exactly three points in, he sprained his left ankle.
With treatment, including acupuncture, Goldstein felt healthy enough to play his first Grand Slam match in three years, and he went out Tuesday and beat Takao Suzuki of Japan 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.
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