Posted on 09/10/2006 1:32:15 AM PDT by beyond the sea
NEW YORK - Maria Sharapova began the U.S. Open with as much buzz about her sponsorships as her strokes, as much talk about her getups as her game.
She's long insisted she's more about substance than style, though, and now she owns a second Grand Slam title to prove it.
Better on the biggest points all night, the third-seeded Sharapova beat No. 2 Justine Henin-Hardenne 6-4, 6-4 in the U.S. Open final Saturday to add a follow-up championship to her breakthrough title at Wimbledon in 2004.
"I experienced it two years ago, and I knew that I wasn't done," Sharapova said. "I had a lot more in me."
What Sharapova had on this night was a lot more force on nearly every shot, from groundstrokes to serves to returns. She faced only one break point all match, broke Henin-Hardenne three times, and compiled a 20-15 edge in winners.
"She's been a real fighter tonight," said Henin-Hardenne, who would have moved up to No. 1 with a victory. "The better player won tonight."
Quite a concession from the Belgian, who leads the tour this season in matches won (54), Grand Slam matches won (25) and tournament titles (five). She was the first woman since Martina Hingis in 1997 to reach a year's four major finals.
"She didn't give me a lot of opportunities," Henin-Hardenne said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Pretty cool way to end her pro career with a mixed doubles win, and she turns 50 next month.
I thought of you when I read the news. You're devotion to Maria is touching, to say the least.
Roddick has better ground strokes but not as good as Sampras at the net.
Federer is the complete package - brilliant ground strokes, decent volley game, decent serve (not powerful but plenty of variety) and the imagination to pull off incredible winners.
Personality-wise I don't like Roddick either. He is a whiner who spent most of his match against the Russian complaining that the guy was keeping him waiting.
If you wanted to assemble the perfect player - a combination of McEnroe's genius, Borg's temperament and expertise, Lendl's power and ruthless attitude - you would come up with something like Federer.
The only missing ingredient is Connors' will to win. And Roddick can learn that, I suppose with Connors coaching him.
My prediction: Federer 3 sets to 1. Maybe he'll win one of those sets 6-0.
Edberg, as you say, had a beautifully smooth serve-volley game. Wonderful natural talent. However, I would say the best serve-volley performance I've ever seen was when McEnroe destroyed Connors at Wimbledon in the early eighties. He had earlier beaten Lendl in the semi-final fairly easily.
Poor Jimmy never had a chance and I was amazed when several months later he took McEnroe to five sets in the final of the US Open.
Oops, the Lendl semi-final was a year before, I think. He killed some New Zealand guy in the final that year.
Renee Richards???
You're right (April Fools)...... Maria has seven toes on her feet.
I remember her when she was a 15 year old pudgy kid. I loved her then! She's one of the GOOD gay folks. (jmo)
Yes.... a good human being too.
I'd like to be touched.
;-)
Is that Tiger Woods sitting in Federer's players box??
She got two or three inches taller over the past year and worked on making her legs stronger. She really needed to do so, because you could see that she wasn't quite getting into position to make certain shots.
Simply...... I'm proud of her!........ and she is one beautiful, intelligent girl.
:-)
;-)
This looks like a physical and psychological *ss-kicking.
yes............. big fan of Federer.
Well, Roddick played well to break Federer in the second set. Should make this one a bit more interesting. Still wouldn't be surprised if Federer took it to the tiebreak.
Yesterday it was Anna Wintour sitting in his box!
He is one special man.
Martina is GAY???
I'm crushed ;-(
I'm not partial to blonds; it is that whole trailer thing.
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