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Sports / Tennis
Polish teen shocks Sharapova at US Open
(AP)
Updated: 2007-09-02 15:00
NEW YORK - Pay no attention to what Maria Sharapova said after her US
Open title defense came to an end Saturday. This was a case of actions
speaking far louder than words, and the way things slipped away, so
suddenly and stunningly, Sharapova clearly was flustered - by the
swirling wind and bright sun, by her errant strokes and, most of all, by
the Krakow Kid across the net who kept moving way up to receive serves.
Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland celebrates her victory over second-seeded
Maria Sharapova of Russia at the US Open tennis tournament in New York,
Saturday, Sept. 1, 2007. [AP]?
Sharapova reeled off eight consecutive games to go up a break in the
third set, then dropped the final six games and lost 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 to
18-year-old Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in the third round, the
earliest exit by a No 2-seeded woman at the US Open since 1981.
"I don't know if it was a combination of the circumstance or the wind or
the opponent playing well. I don't know what it was," said Sharapova, who
double-faulted a whopping 12 times. "I just didn't quite feel like me out
there."
The braces-wearing, big-hitting Radwanska isn't exactly a nobody. She won
junior championships at the French Open in 2005 and Wimbledon in 2006,
took home her first tour title this month and came to New York seeded
30th. Still, she understood the circumstances Saturday.
"I had nothing to lose. She was the favorite - and I think she was more
nervous," said Radwanska, who will fulfill a prematch promise to her
younger sister, this year's Wimbledon junior champion, by buying them
matching Louis Vuitton handbags to celebrate the upset.
She wasn't the only 18-year-old from Eastern Europe who pulled off a big
win Saturday: Victoria Azarenka of Belarus beat 1997 champion Martina
Hingis 3-6, 6-1, 6-0, and Agnes Szavay of Hungary eliminated No 7 Nadia
Petrova 6-2, 6-3. Plus, 16-year-old Tamira Paszek of Austria knocked off
No 11 Patty Schnyder 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1). All of which means 2004 US Open
champion Svetlana Kuznetsova has to like her chances in the bottom half
of the draw.
"You can see the new generation coming up," Hingis said. "They're very
dangerous. I knew it's not going to be easy. My mom texted me. She said,
'Watch out.'"
Sharapova had lost a combined two games in her first two matches, but
could have used some similar advice before facing Radwanska. If that was
the most surprising result of the tournament so far, what happened later
in Arthur Ashe Stadium almost would qualify: Three-time reigning men's
champion Roger Federer lost a set against 6-foot-9 American wild-card
John Isner, who only a few months ago was leading Georgia to the NCAA
team title.
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