Quarterfinal results set up American-Russian clash

By Maarten Heida
January 25 2005

In quarter final action at the Australian Open today, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova managed to win their matches to set up a classic America-Russia clash. Serena Williams beat 2nd seed Amelie Mauresmo 6-2, 6-2. Maria Sharapova beat 5th seeded countrywoman Svetlana Kuznetsova 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

In today’s quarter final action the first match that was played was an all-Russian clash between young compatriots Maria Sharapova, seeded 4th, and Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded 5th.
After a shaky start from both players, Kuznetsova seemed to be the better player, playing more aggressively than Sharapova.
In the first set Sharapova played too passively to really trouble her opponent, giving Kuznetsova the chance to really dominate the first set.
Despite making 18 unforced errors compared to Sharapova’s 16, Kuznetsova still managed to win the first set quite easily, 6-4.
In the second set, at the start Kuznetsova seemed to take the match by the scruff of it’s neck, by immediately breaking Sharapova to go up 1-0.
In the next game however, seemingly in control and after going up 15-0, Kuznetsova missed a sitter.
After that point the momentum in the match seemed to shift, with Sharapova breaking straight back.
Sharapova suddenly started to play more aggressively, but it was also Kuznetsova who started to miss a lot more shots, making 16 unforced errors compared to Sharapova’s 6.
Sharapova hammered 4 breaks past Kuznetsova, who managed 2, to win the set 6-2.
In the final set the match didn’t get much better with both players hitting a combined 34 unforced errors against 18 winners.
Kuznetsova really wasn’t a shadow of herself in the final set, hitting several strings of unforced errors, making it quite easy for Sharapova.
Sharapova never really needed to step up her game to finish off the match.
Only at 5-1 and Sharapova serving for the match, Kuznetsova managed to show a bit of life, breaking back to 5-2.
It proved too little too late however, as Sharapova refused to let the match slip.
Sharapova easily broke Kuznetsova to finish off the match 6-2, booking her place in the semi-final of the Australian Open for the first time in her career.
With this result Sharapova also shows that she is a world-class player, who will be at the top of the rankings for many years to come.

The other quarter final pitted 2nd seed Amelie Mauresmo against 7th seed Serena Williams.
This match however was, tensionwise, far less interesting than the all Russian clash earlier on the day.
Williams was simply the far better player, never giving Mauresmo the chance to come back into the match. And when Mauresmo got chances she didn’t make use of them, leaving the French former number 1 hapless.
Mauresmo, however, declared after the match that she had injured herself, hampering her movement on court.

All that Williams needed in the match was 4 breaks against Mauresmo not managing a single break in the entire match.
Also, Williams won allmost 50% of the points on Mauresmo’s serve, showing the ineffectiveness of the Mauresmo-serve.
In the end Williams easily cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 win, booking her a place in the semi-final of the Australian Open, after not having participated last year.

This sets up a very interesting semi-final clash, between the champion of old and the future of women’s tennis.