Maria Sharapova had her toughest test yet, but pulled
through to reach the semi-finals of the DFS Classic at
Edgbaston. The defending Wimbledon and DFS Classic
Champion was stretched to the limit by Eleni Daniilidou
of Greece before pulling through 7-5, 2-6 6-1.
It was a testing victory for the 18 year old Russian
who was constantly given the run-around by her opponent,
who has a proven track record on grass. Daniilidou
mixed up her play perfectly with a selection of low
slices, hard drives, drop shots and forays to the net
that kept Sharapova constantly guessing.
“All credit to my opponent as she played well. I guess
I just figured I had played badly for the first two sets,
so in the 3rd set I had better pick it up. I fought
really hard out there,” said the Russian.
“From the beginning of the match, I wasn’t playing well
as had no timing and wasn’t serving well. But it’s
impossible to play your third match on grass and play
unbelievable,” added Sharapova.
Sharapova admitted that her performance was also affected
after waking up with a cold yesterday, plus she suffered
a thigh strain late in the second set.
“It was just one of those days, when you feel like
everything is hurting and you have no energy,” said
Sharapova. “I just went out there and did the best
I could. You take the positives away from a match
like this as after all I am in the semis.”
Sharapova will renew her rivalry with 17 year old French
old star Tatiana Golovin in the semi-finals after she
defeated fellow teenager Anna Chakvetadze 6-4 7-6(3)
today. Sharapova and Golovin met in last years final
with Sharapova winning 4-6 6-2 6-1.
“I’m looking forward to a good match,” said Golovin.
“We haven’t played each other since here last year,
but we played so many times when we were younger that
we know each others games so well.”
The other semi-final will see rising Serb star and 3rd
seed Jelena Jankovic take on surprise semi-finalist
Laura Granville of the USA. Granville, the world
number 100, defeated 2nd seed Alicia Molik earlier in
the week, and continued her rich vein of form with a
6-4, 6-3 quarterfinal win today over Tamarine
Tanasugarn of Thailand. Jankovic had another comfortable
victory, winning 6-2 6-4 over American Mashona Washington.
Jankovic has dropped only 16 games on route to the semi-finals.
Jankovic will take on Granville in the first semi-final at
1:00pm, followed by Sharapova against Golovin.
[10.06.05 LTA Communications]
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