E-Paper
Sugiyama takes something from loss
A semi-final spot may have eluded her, but Ai Sugiyama will take encouragement from finally reaching the last eight for the first time.
A spot in the Wimbledon semi-finals may have eluded her, but Japan's Ai Sugiyama will take some encouragement from finally reaching the last eight for the first time.
Maria Sharapova's 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 win on Tuesday ended Sugiyama's chances of becoming only the second Asian woman in the Open era to reach the semi-finals at the Championships after her compatriot Kimiko Date made the last four in 1996.
But Sugiyama was pleased with making the quarter-final stage after three fourth round appearances.
"This is my best result in Wimbledon and I think each round I played better," she said.
"Today I really had a chance in the second set. It's going to be a good confidence boost. I think it was a good tournament."
It was Sugiyama who made the first inroads to the match, breaking Sharapova's serve for the first time to take a 6-5 lead in the opening set.
The Russian seemed down on confidence throughout the next game and her opponent capitalised, serving for the set and taking it.
Sugiyama's outstanding court coverage continued in the second set, but Sharapova finally converted a break point to move to 4-2.
Sugiyama, the 28-year-old 11th seed, replied immediately with a break of her own and the world number 12 saved two more break points to win the following game and square the set at 4-4.
From there, Sharapova clawed back her advantage to eventually take the set before completely dominating the decider.
"She was just attacking all the time and I chose to hang in there but my chances were very few," Sugiyama said after her loss to the Russian teenager.
"In the first two sets I was just trying to attack when I had a small chance. In the third set I didn't have much chance and she had been playing really aggressive the whole match.
"In the third set my movement wasn't great compared to the first and second."
Sharapova admitted she struggled to contend with Sugiyama's speed and agility around the court in the first two sets.
"If she kept running like that in the third set, that's too good, there's not much you could do," the 17-year-old said.
"She did make me go for my shots a little bit more to hit the winner and I knew that she was just playing good tennis.
"She was running everything down and I knew that she was quick."
After the match, which lasted just more than two hours, Sugiyama joined South Africa's Liezel Huber to beat Chinese pair Yan Zi and Zheng Jie in the ladies' doubles fourth round.
