Maria Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion, seems to have the knack of winning a grand-slam tournament every two years — making her due to win one in 2010.
The Russian brushed aside Anastasia Pivovarova, her compatriot, 6-1, 6-0 yesterday and, as she blew a kiss to each side of No 2 Court, she looked every inch the teenager she was when she beat Serena Williams six years ago in the Wimbledon final.
Sharapova’s 20-year-old opponent was almost as tall and poised, and also had a plaited ponytail. They were like a pair of bookends, with Pivovarova even issuing her own squeal — but it was not in the class of Sharapova’s grunt. The No 16 seed sounds as if she is in pain. She always has sounded like that, but it is still a shock when she yelps as if hitting a ball against her will. It undermines the elegance of her play and surrounds her with a negative aura.
No wonder she is asked repeatedly about her right shoulder. “My body feels good,” she said, but there were still questions about how her shoulder feels after having surgery two years ago. “My joy in the game is pretty much up there with what it was before I got injured.”
The 23-year-old is dating Sasha Vujacic, of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team, and when asked to compare the sports, she underlined the crucial difference. “In tennis you have no one but yourself,” she said. “I much prefer it that way because if I had a great game and the others had an off day, I’d be pretty furious at them, so that’s why I play an individual sport.”
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It was put to Sharapova that teenagers are not what they used to be, but Caroline Wozniacki, the girls’ singles champion at Wimbledon in 2006, might beg to differ.
This is the Dane’s fourteenth consecutive appearance in a grand-slam tournament and the 19-year-old overpowered Tathiana Garbin, her 32-year-old opponent from Italy, 6-1, 6-1 on No 1 Court.
Wozniacki, defeated by Kim Clijsters in last year’s US Open final and lost in the opening round of the AEGON International in Eastbourne last week but the No 3 seed looked more than comfortable on grass yesterday.
Reaching the final of the French Open, meanwhile, is clearly a draining experience. Having witnessed Francesca Schiavone, the champion at Roland Garros, go out in the first round on Monday, perhaps Samantha Stosur had an inkling that, having faced the Italian in the final in Paris this month, she, too, would fail to meet expectations.
Those fears were confirmed and the No 6 seed from Australia lost 6-4, 6-4 to Kaia Kanepi, the Estonian ranked No 80 in the world. That sounds a real giant killing but as Stosur pointed out, “she has been ranked a lot higher”. In fact, Kanepi was ranked at No 18 last year and served as well as any top-ten player yesterday.
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“I didn’t serve as well as her,” Stosur said. “That kind of hurt me. As Australians, we’ve always had a great tradition of doing well here.”