Translated material
Duty "zero"
Sharapova crushes France's Bremont
The fourth playing day of the British Open began on the peripheral courts not at noon, as usual, but at 11 am. The day before, most of the scheduled fights did not take place at all due to rain or were interrupted during the matches, so yesterday the organizers had to make up for lost time. The first of our compatriots to reach the third round were Elena Dementyeva and Anna Chakvetadze, later they were joined by Nadezhda Petrova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Maria Sharapova.Dementieva and the winner of the previous Wimbledon tournament on the grass of the Dutch 's-Hertogenbosch played like a carbon copy. Each of the Russians made four breaks during the match (two in each game) and did not give up a single point on their serve. Elena beat Czech Iveta Beneshova 6:2, 6:2, Chakvetadze defeated Tatyana Puchek from Belarus - 6:2, 6:1. The larger score was explained by the fact that Anna served first in her match.
To reach the top 16 players in the tournament, Dementieva will have to play with the Austrian teenager Tamira Paszek, who has earned more than $100 thousand in bonuses this season. Chakvetadze is in another part of the draw and will test the half-sister of the 11-year-old Wimbledon winner, Dutchman Richard Krajicek, Mikaela.
The third Russian to appear on the court before noon was the highly experienced Elena Likhovtseva. With almost identical statistical indicators for the main game elements, she minimally lost to the tenth “seeded” Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova - 5:7, 6:7 (3:7). After this defeat, Likhovtseva did not have to cover her racket at all. A couple of hours later, she played a doubles match in company with Athens Olympic champion, Chinese Sun Tiantian. Elena also plans to compete in mixed doubles, where she combines her efforts with the skill of Canadian Daniel Nestor.
Kuznetsova did not break the resistance of American Bethanie Mattek as easily as expected - 7:6 (7:2), 6:4. The St. Petersburg woman is preparing for a fight with Agnieszka Radwańska. A year ago, at her debut at Wimbledon, the Polish player pleasantly surprised her fans by winning three matches in the main draw. Petrova, using the Dementieva-Chakvetadze scheme, dealt with Sania Mirza from India - 6:2, 6:2 with the same four breaks. Hope then goes to Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spain).
Sharapova had to languish for a long time waiting for the end of the five-set match between Feliciano Lopez (Spain) and Tim Henman (Great Britain), in which the owner of the court was defeated, to the displeasure of the local public. But the match between the Russian and French Severine Bremont took place in the shortest possible time - 6:0, 6:3. For the fourth year in a row, Maria always beats one of her opponents in a game to zero. Taking on Ai Sugiyama in the next round is a good sign. Three years ago, at her triumphant Wimbledon, our prima also crossed paths with this Japanese woman. However, tennis players from the Land of the Rising Sun are not a gift at all. Yesterday Akiko Morigami upset Dinara Safina - 6:4, 7:5.
In total, there are six of our compatriots among the 32 strongest women's singles players. Let us remind you that on Wednesday Elena Vesnina advanced to the 1/16 finals, but her future prospects are minimal, because the leader of the world classification, Belgian Justine Henin, stands in her way.
Three-time champion of the competition, American Venus Williams, in training mode, dealt with Czech Hana Sromova - 6:2, 6:2. Williams Sr. and her sister Serena will play the Fed Cup semifinals against the Russian team on July 14-15 in Stowe. Stars and Stripes captain Zina Garrison, having now named the final lineup, added Lisa Raymond and Vanya King to the “dark-skinned lightning.”
In the men's tournament, the first half of the day was as efficient as possible for the Russians. Marat Safin, Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny ensured their continued fight for the trophy. The first one turned out to be stronger than Pakistan's Aisam Qureshi - 6:4, 6:2, 7:6 (7:4). Tursunov did not allow German Michael Berrer to develop his success - 4:6, 6:4, 6:4, 6:4. Youzhny remained on the court the longest - 6:4, 4:6, 3:6, 7:5, 6:4 in the battle with the Frenchman Gilles Simon. Marat's most difficult opponent in the third round is the world number one, winner of four British Open titles, Roger Federer. The Swiss yesterday won his 50th consecutive victory on grass, leaving no chance for Argentinean Juan Martin Del Potro - 6:2, 7:5, 6:1. Tursunov, whose name appears in the next cell of the tournament bracket, should have a little easier time with the German Tommy Haas. Youzhny will clash with Finnish Jarko Nieminen.