Scolding herself to ”fight, fight, fight” in the third set, Maria Sharapova outlasted top-ranked Lindsay Davenport 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 at the WTA Championships on Thursday night, with both players advancing to the semifinals.
Amelie Mauresmo of France defeated Russian Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-3 to ensure a spot in the semifinals, along with Frenchwoman Mary Pierce, who was idle on Thursday.
With the four berths locked up, Friday’s matches are virtually meaningless except for deciding the semifinal pairings.
Mauresmo’s victory also eliminated number two Kim Clijsters, who is 0-2 with one match remaining, and clinched the year-end number-one ranking for Davenport for the fourth time in her career.
”It is hard to really cheer for someone else to lock something up for me,” Davenport said, adding, ”It is great. A year ago, I wouldn’t have thought it was possible.”
Davenport has a 155-point lead over Clijsters in the rankings, but the Belgian needed to make the semifinals to overtake Davenport.
Sharapova, the defending champion, needed three match points before closing out the match after two hours and eight minutes with a 172kph ace. The 18-year-old Russian dropped her racket, raised her arms and soaked in the crowd’s applause.
”I played smart tennis,” she said. ”I took out her strengths. It was exciting to beat someone who’s been playing such amazing tennis. I’m very, very happy about it.”
Davenport walked off the court, shook the umpire’s hand and had her back turned by the time Sharapova caught up to her on the sideline for a half-hearted handshake.
”I wasn’t mad,” Davenport said. ”She is a little dramatic when she wins and it takes her a while to get to the net.”
Sharapova has been bothered by a strained right pectoral muscle since August, and she withdrew from last week’s tournament in Philadelphia because of a sprained right thumb. Beating Davenport was her first victory over a highly ranked player since July, when she defeated Nadia Petrova in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.
”I didn’t consider pulling out,” she said. ”I want to play really bad.”
Sharapova served for the match at 5-4 in the second set. But she netted a forehand to get broken and then Davenport won the final two games to force a third set in front of an announced crowd of about 6 000 at Staples Centre.
Sharapova earned the only break of the third in the fifth game with a forehand winner. Davenport saved three break points to hold trailing 4-3. She saved a match point to hold at 5-4, and had a break point when Sharapova double-faulted in the next game.
But Davenport committed two straight errors before Sharapova’s 13th ace won the match.
”It just came down to one break,” Davenport said. ”I had my chance. I was getting a little bit tired and I didn’t feel my serve was as accurate.”
Sharapova won only five more points and had three more winners than Davenport, with both women committing 31 unforced errors.
Davenport, already assured of a semifinal berth, has a 2-1 record in round-robin play, and will get Friday off. Sharapova is 2-0.
Patty Schnyder of Switzerland defeated Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-0, 5-7, 6-4, but both women were eliminated from the Green group on the basis of Sharapova’s victory.
Schnyder won her first match in her third appearance at the season-ending championships, but she finished 1-2.
”It was pretty close,” she said. ”I started to be really nervous thinking about too many things. It would be my first victory and it means so much to me.”
Petrova fell to 0-2 playing the championships for the first time, with one match to play.
Schnyder and Petrova needed a third set for the sixth time in eight career meetings. Less than two weeks ago, Petrova beat Schnyder in Austria for her only title of the year.
This time, Petrova committed 43 unforced errors and converted 2-of-10 break chances. — Sapa-AP