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Sharapova sets up Davenport showdown
Maria Sharapova showed why she is considered a champion-in-waiting when she outwitted Ai Sugiyama to reach her first grand slam semifinal at Wimbledon.
Teenager Maria Sharapova showed why she is considered a champion-in-waiting when she outwitted Japan's Ai Sugiyama 5-7 7-5 6-1 to reach her first grand slam semi-final at Wimbledon on Tuesday.
The 13th-seed became the first Russian woman since Anna Kournikova in 1997 to advance to the last four at Wimbledon, where she will face 1999 champion Lindsay Davenport.
"I had always wanted to play on Centre Court but I never thought about playing in the semi-finals here. It's just amazing," said the Siberian-born teenager, who left her native Russia 10 years ago to train at the Nick Bollettieri academy in Florida.
"After all the sacrifices, this is just great."
An attacking player who thrives on grass, Sharapova made an incredible start and lost only two points on serve in her first four service games.
But the blonde teenager soon realised she had run into a brick wall as Sugiyama refused to give her any free points.
During an initial onslaught, Sugiyama saved four break points in her opening two service games before gaining the breakthrough for a 6-5 lead.
The 17-year-old Sharapova surrendered the set in the next game after whipping a forehand wide.
The Tokyo-born player was threatening to run away with the contest when Sharapova suddenly managed to break what to that point had been the impregnable Sugiyama serve on her eighth attempt to sneak ahead 4-2.
Despite losing the advantage in the next game, Sharapova knew she had the weapons to shatter Sugiyama's resolve and refused to get overawed even when she wasted three set points in the 10th game.
Two games later, with her grunts growing louder by the second, Sharapova shrieked in delight after levelling the contest on her fifth set point.
Having had the upper hand for most of the first two sets, Sugiyama simply lost her battling instincts in the third.
After failing to convert three break points in the first game, the Japanese wilted under a barrage of shots from the Russian to slip out of the grasscourt event.
