Translated material
Continue without Sharapova
Safina and Dementieva will play in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros
On Monday, the fourth round matches took place at the French Open tennis championship. The most interesting from the point of view of Russian fans were three meetings with the participation of five Russian women. Two fights were national derbies: Vera Zvonareva faced Elena Dementieva, and world number one Maria Sharapova competed with Dinara Safina.The first to enter the court were Zvonareva and Dementieva, who eventually won - 6:4, 1:6, 6:2. Meanwhile, before the start of this almost two-hour duel, the minimal advantage was on Zvonareva’s side. Before this, the rivals played each other three times, but the only match on clay brought victory to Zvonareva. She celebrated her success over her compatriot this season at a tournament in Charleston, America. And even on clay at Roland Garros, before the meeting with Dementieva, she didn’t give up a single set to her competitors. So, in a psychological sense, Zvonareva should have felt more confident in Paris.
However, in the first set on French clay, Dementieva took the lead. After which Zvonareva won two games in a row. The entire further segment of the game resembled a “swing”. Both athletes had problems with the first serve and made double faults. Nevertheless, Zvonareva looked a little better due to her more effective and varied play on the back line. This circumstance allowed Vera to seize the initiative for some time, the match score in games became 4:2. And then Dementieva, as if having come to her senses, rushed to catch up with her competitor. And she succeeded. As a result, Elena won four games in a row and left the first set behind - 6:4.
The second segment of the game was dictated by Zvonareva, who in 15 minutes. brought the game score to 5:0. And only then did Dementieva manage to break the clean sheet, but she lost the set – 1:6. Realizing that the situation needs to be turned around psychologically, to pull herself together and calm down, Dementieva asks for a short time-out and goes to the locker room. After which he appears on the court, once again changes his racket and is completely transformed. It would seem, what can you change about yourself in these few minutes? As it turned out, a lot. Feeling the confidence of Dementieva, who has a real chance of winning the match, Zvonareva suddenly begins to “jitter” and loses five games in a row. In part, the third set becomes a kind of mirror image of the second, only now the advantage is on Dementieva’s side. And just like in the second set with the same score, now Zvonareva manages to win her first game, then another. It seems that there is still gunpowder in Zvonareva’s powder flask. But this impression, alas, is deceptive. Dementieva wins the third set, and therefore the match advances to the quarterfinals.
This meeting between Dementieva and Zvonareva once again confirmed the axiom that women's tennis is unpredictable. In fact, the equal duel between the two Russians was lost by Zvonareva due to psychology. Dementieva, as a more experienced tennis player, had stronger nerves, and this is what ultimately brought her success. In this regard, it is appropriate to recall that in 2004 Dementieva already reached the final of Roland Garros, as well as another Grand Slam tournament, the US Open. This season, the eighth racket of the world won in Dubai and became a finalist at tournaments in Berlin and Istanbul.
The second Russian derby between Sharapova and Safina turned out to be even more intriguing. Both tennis players knew each other very well, having met on the court five times. Moreover, in 2006, Sharapova and Safina opposed each other on the clay of Roland Garros, and precisely in the 1/8 finals. Then Safina scored - 7:5, 2:6, 7:5. Sharapova chalked up the last victory in mutual meetings. True, this also happened two years ago. During this time, a lot has changed, and in particular in Safina’s game. Marat's younger sister is doing brilliantly this season. At the tournament in Berlin, Safina defeated two famous tennis players at once - the American Serena Williams and the then world number one Justine Henin from Belgium.
Before the start of the match with Sharapova, it was difficult to predict which of our two girls would reach the quarterfinals. If Safina, moving forward in the tournament bracket, beat her competitors quite easily, Sharapova, on the contrary, experienced problems in almost every match.
This time, at the beginning of the meeting, Sharapova found herself in the role of catching up. However, losing 5:6, she managed to level the situation and then tip the scales in her favor. The first set, which ended in a tiebreak, was won by the world number one with difficulty - 7:6 (8:6). In the second game, Safina took the lead 1:0, but the match was interrupted due to rain and resumed only an hour later, at about six in the evening Moscow time.
After the break, rushing into battle, Safina won another game, after which Sharapova finally took her “point” - 1:2. The first racket of the world seemed to have a second wind. Safina became nervous and began screaming at herself out of frustration. But this did not help: Sharapova equalized the score - 2:2, and then, as if turning on a higher speed, she scored three more games in a row. She was clearly superior to Safina in power and ingenuity - 5:3. It seems that the outcome of the match is predetermined.
Dinara begins to make mistakes and for some moments ceases to understand where she is and what is happening to her. But even in such a difficult situation, he finds the strength to pull himself together. Angry with herself and the others, Safina counts the games by five. But Sharapova takes the lead again - 6:5. But Safina does not intend to give up - 6:6, and again a tiebreaker, which, having conceded, Safina sensationally wins - 7:6 (7:5).
This super-thriller lasted for more than three hours, in which Dinara Safina won, winning the third set - 6:2. By and large, the fate of this match was decided after the second game, which, being one step away from reaching the quarterfinals, Sharapova lost.
Composition of the quarterfinal pairs of the women's tournament: Safina - Dementieva, the winner of the pair Kuznetsova - Azarenka (Belarus) against the winner of the pair Kvitova (Czech Republic) - Kanepi (Estonia), Suarez Navarro (Spain) - Jankovic (Serbia), Schneider (Switzerland) -- Ivanovic (Serbia).