Sharapova Shut Out as Lindsay, Kim Reach Final
March 19, 2005
Sharapova Shut Out as Lindsay, Kim Reach Final
INDIAN WELLS, CA - In a dominating display, current world No.1 Lindsay
Davenport and red-hot former No.1 Kim Clijsters cruised through their semifinals
on Friday at the Pacific Life Open, setting up a rematch of the 2003 final in
Saturday's 2005 championship final at Indian Wells, California.
Clijsters, currently ranked No.133 and unseeded here, has exceeded expectations
at the Tier I event in only her second tournament of the season. The
21-year-old Belgian has been sidelined for much of the past 12 months with a
left wrist injury, which required surgery last June. The four-time Grand Slam
finalist returned to the court for the first time since October last month at
Antwerp, falling in the quarterfinals to Venus Williams.
Heading into Friday's first semifinal, Clijsters had won all but the first of
six career meetings against Dementieva, the No.4 seed here. Things were not
much different on Friday.
The two traded breaks early on in the first set, but it was Clijsters who came
through when it really mattered, breaking serve again with Dementieva serving
to stay in it to secure the opening set 64.
The second set began much the same as the first. Clijsters broke for a 3-1 lead,
but Dementieva broke right back after taking an injury time-out for a muscle
pull. However, the Belgian took complete control this time at 3-2, breaking
serve, holding, and breaking again to close out the 64 62 victory.
"I'm definitely happy with the way I've been playing, but I didn't expect it to
be so soon," she said. "This is probably the happiest I've been to be in the
final."
"You only realize how much it means if you haven't had it for a while," she
said. "If you've been off for so long, they tell you it might be tough to get
back and you might not be able to compete again."
"This definitely means a lot more - it sort of says 'See, I can do it.'"
"The therapist was helpful but it was too tight and I couldn't really move,"
said Dementieva, a two-time Grand Slam finalist in 2004, about her injury.
"That's just not enough when you play against Kim - you have to move very well."
"She's coming back - I'm sure very soon we'll see her in the Top 10 again."
Clijsters becomes only the second player since the introduction of the current
Tier system in 1980 to reach a Tier I singles final ranked outside the Top 100.
In 1990, an unranked 14-year-old Jennifer Capriati finished runner-up in just
her third pro event at the Family Circle Cup, now held in Charleston. The
previous lowest-ranked Tier I singles champion was Iva Majoli, who won at
Charleston in 2002 ranked No.58.
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