Injury catches up with tennis star Kuznetsova in Beijing - 11:59 AM, 9/20/2007 |
| An abdominal muscle injury on Wednesday forced titleholder Svetlana
Kuznetsova to withdraw before the start of her opening match at the
China Open. The strain of playing a US Open final two weekends ago followed by her feat in leading Russia to the Fed Cup trophy just days ago in Moscow proved to be to much for the top seed. Her place in the 32-woman draw will be taken by Argentine Maria Emilia Salerni, who faced American Abigail Spears in the second round after a bye. Kuznetsova said that her body just gave out under the intense pressure of the past few weeks. "I came here with a strain, but it's getting worse. I've had treatment but I'm unable to serve," she said. Hers was the second injury pull-out here after US Open winner and world nunber one Justine Henin withdrew last week with a bronchial infection. On court, French third seed Amelie Mauresmo returned from her own injury lay-off to post a storming 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Pole Raluca Olaru, burying bitter memories of two lost months. The double Grand Slam winner in 2006, who underwent emergency appendix surgery in February and has since played patchily as she struggles to recover, reached the quarter-finals of a event for the first time since last June. "It wasn't the best tennis I've ever played," said Mauresmo. "But since I've had a couple of months off, I'm just glad to come up a winner today." The 28-year-old, who lost the final at the Beijing tennis centre a year ago to Kuznetsova, was joined in the last eight by miracle mum Lindsay Davenport. The winner of last week's Bali event, on her return to the sport for the first time in a year following "retirement" and the birth of her child in June, sideswiped fellow American Julie Ditty 6-0, 6-2. "I felt tired after flying here from Bali, so I'm happy that the first match was easy," said Davenport. Davenport halted her career a year ago after losing in Beijing, saying it was time to concentrate on starting a family. But with that job completed three months ago with the birth of Jagger, the 31-year-old felt the tug of tennis and is testing the waters in Asia. Should she like what she finds, the Californian has hinted that she could make a full-time return to the WTA starting in January in Australia. Against Ditty, former Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open champion Davenport played top defence, allowing the underdog only one break of serve on seven chances. The victory was a repeat of a second-round clash last week in Bali, where Davenport began revving up her big game afer her period of inactivity. The American will find recent history repeating itself in the next round as she faces Greek eighth seed Eleni Daniilidou, whom she beat a week ago in the first round. Mauresmo is competing for the first time since Fed Cup in July, when she hung up her rackets and skipped the US Open, short on both form and motivation. The French former number one is all but writing off this season, choosing instead to concentrate on getting into shape for 2008. She will face a test in the last eight when she plays the winner of a match between fifth seed Martina Hingis and the last local hope, Peng Shuai. |
 |
Serena plans French Open surprises for doubters - 2:55 PM, 4/25/2007 |
| Serena Williams likes proving people wrong and intends to surprise the sceptics at next month`s French Open. Williams stormed to victory in the year`s opening grand slam, thrashing Maria Sharapova in the finals of the Australian Open despite finishing 2006 ranked 95th after battling injuries and appearing to critics to be in less than top condition. "Everybody had written me off. Everyone was like `she can`t win a grand slam,` which I thought was outrageous," Williams told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. "It was good. I like nothing more than proving people wrong." After winning her eighth grand slam trophy, the 25-year-old American last month claimed her fourth Sony Ericsson Open title in Miami, overcoming world number one Justine Henin after dropping the opening set 6-0. Despite knee problems that bothered her during this month`s U.S. Fed Cup win over Belgium and a groin pull that forced her out of her first clay court warm-up in Charleston, Williams said she planned to spring her next surprise in Paris. "I have something in mind, but I`m not going to say. It has something to do with clay," the 12th-ranked Williams said slyly. "I`m really looking forward to Roland Garros. It`s going to be fun." Williams won her only French Open crown in 2002, which began a run of four grand slam titles in a row that was dubbed the Serena Slam. Victory on the red clay would bring her halfway to a classic grand slam sweep with Wimbledon and the U.S. Open left on the 2007 calendar. "I think it can be done. I play well on all surfaces so I`m a good candidate to do it. Who knows? "My knees are good, it feels much better. "I`m playing again in Germany in a couple of weeks, then there`s Rome," she said about her preparation for the French. "I want to start sliding more. I`ve been playing on hard courts for so long, so intensely that I haven`t been sliding as well as I want to, so I have to work harder on that." Williams has put some of her off-court interests on hold while concentrating on tennis. "But I love acting so much. In the fall I might have some opportunities to do some things. "In a perfect world I could do a full season and be done in late September and then film a movie and start (tennis) again in January," she said. "In a perfect world." Williams has appeared in several film and television dramas is keen to develop a movie career. Despite the WTA Tour plans to shorten the season, Williams was critical of scheduling changes to begin in 2009. "There`s a lot of changes. I think it`s drastic, almost too drastic," she told Reuters. "All the tournaments are in Europe, Russia and all the players seem to be from there. To grow the sport more in the United States, the tour should focus on tournaments in the United States," she said, noting the shrinking number of U.S. events on the calendar. "I think they`re changing the schedule to cater to Europe and I don`t like it. I don`t like it at all." |
