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Sports / Tennis
Sharapova sharp in rout, Roddick through
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-08-31 13:46
NEW YORK - Maria Sharapova needed only 51 minutes to overwhelm Australian
Casey Dellacqua in the second roundof the US Open on Thursday, serving
notice that she is focused, in-form, and determined to defend her title.
Maria Sharapova of Russia serves to Casey Dellacqua of Australia during
their match at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in Flushing Meadows, New
York, August 30, 2007. [Reuters]?
The second-seeded Sharapova hit 30 winners while yielding only two to her
bewildered opponent during the 6-1 6-0 rout.
On the men's side, fifth seed Andy Roddick advanced to the third round
when his Argentine opponent Jose Acasuso retired with a left knee injury
at the end of the third set.
"I think she'll most definitely go all the way," said the 90th-ranked
Dellacqua, shellshocked from Sharapova's driving groundstrokes. "If she
plays like that consistently, she's going to be hard to beat."
Sharapova, who landed 78 percent of her first serves and won 52 of the
match's 75 points, understated her performance before a packed Arthur
Ashe Stadium.
"I thought I did a pretty good job of being solid," she said. "It's only
going to get tougher from here."
Most of the favourites breezed through on a sunny day and a cool evening
at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows.
Roddick said he was just glad to advance.
"It's not the way you want to get through but at the beginning of the day
all you want to do is get through to the third round," admitted Roddick,
who was leading 4-6 6-1 6-2 when Acasuso left the court.
Winners included fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, Czech ninth
seed Tomas Berdych and 19th seed Andy Murray of Britain.
Richard Gasquet was the first casualty of the day when the French 13th
seed pulled out with a fever. The withdrawal handed American wildcard
Donald Young a walkover into the third round.
On the women's side, 16th seed Martina Hingis sliced, lobbed and chipped
her way to a 6-2 7-5 win over Pauline Parmentier while fourth seed
Svetlana Kuznetsova employed power tennis in a 6-3 4-6 6-0 victory over
Camille Pin.
"You try to mix it up, to give the opponent a different look every time,"
said Hingis, who won the tournament a decade ago. "I think the crowd
enjoyed it, too."
Kuznetsova, the 2004 champion, had 46-6 edge in winners over her French
opponent and a 34-9 advantage in unforced errors.
"I missed so many of my chances," she told reporters. "I've been missing
so much. I was not moving my feet. But still I knew I was comfortable.
I'll get it all together."
Sharapova's competition in the tournament will certainly get stronger but
the Russian pin-up was particularly sharp against Dellacqua.
She won 14 of her 17 forays to the net and never lost her serve.
"She played extremely well," said Dellacqua. "I felt like I was on the
back foot every point. If she got a first serve in, I was completely out
of the point."
"She didn't give me a thing. I didn't get a free point. She is really
focused out there."
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