Maria Sharapova lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova 4-6 3-6 in the NASDAQ 100

The first set was on serve at 2-1 when Sharapova was broken. Then both traded breaks and Kuznetsova held serve to make it 5-2. Maria won the next two games but was broken to lose the set 4-6.

The second set started out the same 2-1 on serve when the younger Russian again was broken but this time Svetlana held serve to go up 4-1. The rest of the match both players held serve just lead to a win for Kuznetsova.

“It was tough today, she was hitting winners off both sides and I couldn’t put two points together,” Sharapova told reporters. “I was a little tired from my previous matches. “But it was still a great week, that’s the way it goes in sport. I do need some time off.”

Maria will take some time off now her next scheduled tournament is Rome which starts May 15th.

Maria Sharapova beat Tatiana Golovin 6-3 5-7 4-3ret. to advance to the finals at the NASDAQ 100.The first set had Golovin holding her serve. Sharapova then ran off four straight games to go up 4-1. The next two went to Tatiana. Maria won the next to games to take the first set.

The number four seed raced out of the second set winning the first four games. She was then broken to make it 4-1. The former number one got the break back but was broken right back. Tatiana held serve for the first time in the set making it 5-3. Maria was broken again but had four match points. Golovin then made it 5-5. The 2004 Wimbledon Champ held serve but lost the next game to go to a tie breaker. The tie break went back and fourth but at 5-5 used a drop shot to win the point and then won the next point to go into a final set.

“I should have finished it off, but that’s not the way it went,” Sharapova said. “But I have to forget about it and get ready for the final.”

The third set started out on serve at 2-2 but Maria got a break to go up 3-2. Both players held serve to make it 4-3 but then Golovin rolled over on her ankle. She had a medical time out and tried to continue but couldn’t so she retired.

“It’s very unfortunate,” Sharapova said. “She played unbelievable tennis, the best I’ve seen her play. She played basically out of her mind in the second set, and it was so close in the third set.”

Svetlana Kuznetsova won her match over Amelie Mauresmo 6-1 6-4. The two have spilt there four matches with Maria winning there last meeting last year in Australian Open.

Maria Sharapova moved on to the quarters by beating Maria Kirilenko 3-6 6-4 6-1 today.The former number one jumped out winning the first to games of the set. Kirilenko then came back to win the next five games. Sharapova won the next game but the older Maria then served out the set.

The second set again had the 18 year up 2-0. The rest of the set went back and fourth with the fourth seed getting a break at 5-4 to send it to a final set.

The third set was all Sharapova winning 6-1.”I was down a set but I tried to hang in,” Sharapova told reporters following the battle that lasted over two hours. “I wasn’t playing my best, that’s for sure. “She put pressure on me and kept me on the defensive. It came down to a few points in the second set and I picked it up in the third.”

Maria will now face Anna Chakvetadze or Anastasia Myskina in the quarters.

With a 6-4 6-0 victory over her French teammate Marion Bartoli, world number one, Amélie Mauresmo, reached the round of the last 16 at the Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami. Winning five of her last eight tournaments, Mauresmo will face Ana Ivanovic next, who defeated Mauresmo earlier this year in Sydney.

One break in the first set was enough for Mauresmo to capture the first set 6-4 against French Marion Bartoli. While playing on court No. 1, the Australian Open champion seemed to be very relaxed and happy with her game. “Having the kind of wins that I’ve had in the last three or four months, it gives me a lot of confidence. It has put me into a position where I’m pretty relaxed now in the way I handle every tournament I go in, and in the way I’m walking on the court.” the French number one said after her match.

However Mauresmo’s opponent Marion Bartoli had problems with her movement and got her left knee taped after the first set. The injury was diagnosed as tendon irritation after the match.

After the defeats of Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne, Amélie Mauresmo seems to have great chances to win her first title in Miami this year.

“I’m aware that Kim and Justine are out, but I’m really focusing on myself and what I have to do,” Mauresmo commented her chances.

“I’m really focusing on myself and what I have to do. Obviously, each match is a tough one, and I’m playing a tough opponent in the next round. So I’m just waiting to see day after day.” Mauresmo commented her next opponent Ana Ivanovic.

This is Kim Clijsters schedule for the next few weeks: WTA Miami, Fed Cup Belgium-Russia, WTA warshau and Rome.

Three weeks it will be on March 12th, since current number one Kim Clijsters lost in the Antwerp final from “Mauresmo playing on a cloud”. Three weeks was Kim’s planned period of rest, to allow her body to recuperate from an extremely exhausting Australian open and a far from easy route to the final in Antwerp. No Indian wells for her this year, but will she play Miami?

Kim announced a couple of days before the three weeks deadline being over that she would take an extra three days of rest and would leave for Miami only after that. Still perfectly on schedule for the Key Biscayne event but it rises doubts about her fitness and health again.

Some would rather see her skip Miami, and be better prepared for the ‘gravel season’s start’.
But given the fact that Kim absolutely loves America and hard court and has a lot of WTA points to defend in the event this year, it is very unlikely she will skip it.

The first match in Miami for Kim would be scheduled on either March 24th or 25th, so enough time to overcome a possible jet lag for the 22 year old.

First seeded player will possibly be Amelie Mauresmo though, if she manages to gather enough WTA points in Indian Wells to dethrone Kim and start Miami as the ‘number one of women’s tennis’ for the first time in her life and career!