Translated material
Strong-willed Masha
Sharapova reached the semi-finals of the WTA Championship
Maria Sharapova, who has not been performing very well recently due to injuries, holds her fights together at the final tournament of the year - the WTA Championship in Madrid. Having won a strong-willed victory over compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova - 5:7, 6:2, 6:2, the former number one in the world classification reached the semi-finals ahead of schedule and for the fourth year in a row.Thanks to Maria’s success, Ana Ivanovic automatically booked a place in the quartet of the strongest players, since with two victories she also became unattainable for Kuznetsova and Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova.
In the Russian derby, Sharapova had a particularly impressive third set. Losing 1:2, she won five games in a row, converting two tiebreakers. Moreover, in the seventh game, Kuznetsova led 40:0 on her serve, but Maria did not allow her to reduce the gap. Today's fights between Kuznetsov - Hantuchova and Sharapova - Ivanovich will not have any fundamental sporting significance, unless in the meeting between Svetlana and the Slovaks there will be an additional $30 thousand in prize money at stake. This is the difference in material incentives between players who took 3rd and 4th places in their quartets at the preliminary stage.
The day before, in the “red” group, Ivanovic prevailed over the Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova - 6:2, 7:6 (11:9), in the “yellow” four, the first racket of the world, Belgian Justine Henin, confidently defeated the representative of Serbia, Jelena Jankovic - 6:2 , 6:2, but the meeting between our Anna Chakvetadze and the American Serena Williams was stopped after the first set (the Russian won it with a score of 6:4) due to a left knee injury in the dark-skinned “lightning”. She was replaced in the tournament by the official reserve, Wimbledon 2007 finalist, Frenchwoman Mario Bartoli. Late yesterday evening Moscow time, she entered the fight against Enin. Moreover, the Belgian entered this meeting having already received a ticket to the semi-finals thanks to her two victories with a 4:0 set ratio.
In the match with Chakvetadze, Williams Jr. asked for a medical break when she was losing 4:5. After playing one more game, the American decided not to tempt fate, and this season was over for her. “I felt discomfort in my knee the day before,” Williams said. — The pain was not severe then, but while playing with Anna it sharply worsened. I deliberately did not burden myself with intense training in Madrid, I took care of my sore spots, but this did not help either. “I’m extremely disappointed that I’m forced to withdraw from the tournament.”
Indeed, Serena was clearly not at ease. The tennis player, who has a powerful serve, did not make a single ace during the set she played and at the same time missed four blows from Chakvetadze. Moreover, Anna did not serve in the best way - just over 50% of hits in the desired square of the court on the first try.
Yesterday Chakvetadze played her last match at the preliminary stage, and if the Muscovite defeated Yankovic, Anna received the right to continue the fight for the main trophy.