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Anna Kournikova and Maria Sharapova, Maria Kirilenko and Venus Williams, kournikova, hot, sexy, tennis, davis cup, signed, autographs, tournament, wallpapers, bikini photo shoot, wimbledon, us open, SI, sports illustrated, prince, nike, canon, videos
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“When I make commitments I like to stick to them, especially when I’m giving back to kids. Just giving them an example of what they can achieve. I love giving back to kids. It’s fantastic.” |
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Posted on Jan 04 / 2007 / 2:49 PM 
Maria Sharapova blamed lack of competitive play after a tough 7-5, 6-3 win over world No. 166 Yan Zi of China in the quarterfinals of the Champions Challenge in Hong Kong, a warmup for the Australian Open.
The world No. 2 and two-time grand slam winner from Russia struggled to beat doubles specialist Yan, who appeared unfazed by the ranking gap and matched Sharapova stroke for stroke.
Up 5-2 in the first set, Sharapova lost serve twice to let Yan, doubles champion at Wimbledon and the Australian Open last year, even at 5-5.
She broke Yan's serve in the next game, but had a tough time serving for the set, saving three break points before winning.
The Russian -- the reigning U.S. Open champion and Wimbledon champion in 2004 -- dominated in the second set, going up 5-1 after breaking Yan twice, but then lost serve before closing out the match 6-3.
Sharapova shrugged off the tough challenge, saying at a news conference after the match that she needed time to get used to competitive conditions after training during the offseason.
"You're never going to play your best tennis in your first match," she said.
In the semifinals Sharapova will play either Czech Nicole Vaidisova or Russian Elena Dementieva.
Comments: 5 reactions
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Comment on article
well done maria!!!! |
by zorang on Jan 04 / 2007 / 3:54 PM | |
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Hey Maria,
Settle down and have fun. I first saw you plan in the Australian Opean in 2005 and knew that you had potential to be the best player in the world. Good luck. |
by Roy on Jan 04 / 2007 / 5:07 PM | |
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maria you have the reazon , in the first macht you cant play the best tennis very good!!
tomorrow will be hard come on maria!!! |
by matias on Jan 04 / 2007 / 11:40 PM | |
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I hope Masha will play better against Dementieva, but the important thing is the she gets ready for winning the Australian Open, because this is just, in fact, a warm-up. |
by Ruyman on Jan 05 / 2007 / 12:21 AM | |
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Well done. =] |
by Wilson on Jan 05 / 2007 / 2:23 PM | |
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