Clijsters, Sharapova Survive Windy Day 3 in NY
August 31, 2005
Clijsters, Sharapova Survive Windy Day 3 in NY
FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. - On a windy day in Flushing Meadows, top seed Maria
Sharapova and No.4 Kim Clijsters roared into the third round at the US open.
Sharapova needed just 49 minutes to blow away Madagascar's Dally Randriantefy,
61 60. The painless victory gives the Russian teen a spot in the third round
with only three dropped games through two matches.
"I think I'm hitting pretty well," Sharapova said. "I didn't have a lot of
matches coming into this tournament. In the first round I felt really solid
actually. Played better than I thought I would. But I know the matches are
going to get tougher and tougher from here. That's where you have to pick up
your game."
Sharapova said it was difficult the work through a game plan due to the wind,
but thought that it was probably entertaining for those watching the match.
"The first few games I was serving 69 miles per hour," Sharapova said. "It's
pretty funny. I think it's even funnier from TV because they can't even see
the wind. These people probably think we look like beginners. That's the sad
part."
By advancing to the round of 32, Sharapova equals her best showing at
Flushing Meadows. She reached the third round at last year's event after a
second round appearance in her New York debut in 2003.
Meanwhile, Clijsters was able to adjust her game to the wind in order to move
past Colombia's Fabiola Zuluaga in straight sets, 75 60. Clijsters had built
a 4-1 lead in the first set before Zuluaga got back into the match by winning
four straight games. Clijsters then won the last eight games of the match in
order to move into the next round.
"I just knew I had to from the start play aggressive and just keep going for
the lines and just go for it," Clijsters said. "Even though there's a lot of
wind, you just have to play your game, not think about it too much."
Clijsters, whose stellar hard court season landed her the 2005 US Open Series
title, continues her torrid march through the North American events. So far
this year, Clijsters has taken titles on North American soil at Indian Wells,
Miami, Stanford, Los Angeles and Toronto.
Five more victories over the course of the next week and a half and the
former Belgian No.1 may be leaving New York with her very first Grand Slam
title. As the winner of the US Open Series, a title at the US Open would
double the prize money Clijsters would earn at the event from $1 million to a
whopping $2 million dollar payday.
Despite her incredible play this year, Clijsters still feels she's not
playing as well as she did in 2003 - the year she reached the finals at
Roland Garros and the US Open, semifinals at the Australian Open and
Wimbledon, won the WTA Tour Championships and briefly held the world's No.1
ranking.
"In 2003, I was playing probably some of my best tennis," Clijsters said.
"Everybody else was there. Everybody was playing well. I think now because
there's been so many withdrawals, a loto of attention has sort of gone to me
because for once, I'm healthy, holding up."
For the third time in four Grand Slam events this year, No.26 seed Nicole
Vaidisova advanced to the third round - defeating China's Zheng Jie in her
second round match, 63 60. Vaidisova has dropped just seven games in two
victories so far this week.
She can reach the fourth round at a Grand Slam event for the first time ever
if she can defeat Croatian qualifier Ivana Lisjak in the next round. Lisjak,
who had not won a Grand Slam prior to her first round victory against Emilie
Loit, continued her good fortunes in the second round, defeating Ekaterina
Bychkova, 75 61. Bychkova was responsible for the first round dismissal of
defending US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Meanwhile, No.18 seed Ana Ivanovic was unable to advance beyond the second
round in her US Open debut, falling to Venezuela's Maria Vento-Kabchi,
36 75 61. Vento-Kabchi advanced to the third round for the second straight
year.
India's Sania Mirza advanced to the third round in her US Open debut,
defeating Maria Elena Camerin, 64 16 64. Mirza will next take on Marion
Bartoli, a 46 61 60 winner against American wild card Shenay Perry.
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