Sports - Maria Sharapova #10: Because she`s on a mission to get back to the top! - Page 5

The Daywalker · 09-09-2009, 09:21 PM

I knew Caroline would stomp Melanie. Her style of play just wasn't what Melanie has been beating and since she has 2 year experience on her, there was no way Caroline was going to lose. You could see it in her face every time Melanie made an unforced error - the "keep it up kid, this match is mine" face. Though, i think Caroline showed a tiny bit of bad sportsmanship from 2-2 on in the 2nd set with a few reviews in the middle of a point and then that one time where play had stopped but both girls hit the ball and extra two times. I think she was making sure she stayed in Melanie's head a little bit.

I didn't see any of Kat's match, I would have loved to have seen some Alona

**Hot Rod** · 09-09-2009, 10:51 PM

I forgot to mention this earlier, but i thought that Caroline did a good job with the serve and hitting the ball at a slower pace compared to the bigger pace from Masha, Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova. As for the reviews in the middle of a point, the first one was understandable, but the second one was excessive. However i understand Caroline putting her experience to use there. Of course it`s grounds for a little spanking.

BTW after seeing her matches, i think that Melanie Oudin would be a good doubles partner for some of our favorites, especially the ones that don`t play much doubles like Masha and Ana. Of course whoever is Melanie`s double partner will have to take her shopping. She`s quite a cutie, but needs to glam it up a bit after her run at the US Open.

Anyway here are a couple of more pics of Makiri and Elena during one of their doubles match at the US Open recently along with a pic of Elena during one of her singles matches.

I really love the nice view in this pic.

The Daywalker · 09-10-2009, 06:24 AM

That is an awesome pic of Elena

**Hot Rod** · 09-12-2009, 09:18 PM

Yes it sure is.

I have to give props to the photographer for the great shot.

After being pushed a day due to rain, Caroline finally played her semifinal match against Yanina Wickmayer earlier tonight and she came out with a 6-3, 6-3 win. Good win for Caroline.

I thought that this would be a tougher match for Caroline, but once again she does a good job of playing another nice solid match. I`m really pleased with Caroline`s performance tonight, which was pretty good after having to endure the rain delays. Now she is in her first career Grand Slam final where she will take on Kim Clijsters. Obviously this will be a very tough match for Caroline in her first Grand Slam final against the 2005 champion, but at the same time, this is a great opportunity for her to make history for Denmark and to reach a higher level of stardom, especially among the guys around the world. I really hope that Caroline will show a lot of poise, give a good effort and play well tomorrow night.

Anyway here are some pics from tonight`s match.

I hate it for Caroline that she had to play in a near empty Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Caroline was full of confidence throughout the match.

Caroline is overcome with emotion after winning tonight`s match.

Good job Caroline.

**JustMe2000** · 09-12-2009, 10:35 PM

In regards to that one picture.....stealing the immortal words of Dick Enberg ..."Oh My!"

And I don't think I have to explain which picture I'm talking about.

**Hot Rod** · 09-13-2009, 08:50 PM

Glad that you like the pic too. BTW welcome to the thread.

Glad that you decided to drop by and hope you will do so often.

Well Caroline`s great run at the US Open came up short of the title as she was defeated by Kim Clijsters 5-7, 3-6.

What a tough loss for Caroline.

She played well in the first set, but was unable to consoledate the breaks she got and was broken for the set. Then in the second set, she was unable to keep up with Clijsters` good play.

Even with tonight`s loss, i`m very proud of Caroline having such a great run to make it to her first Grand Slam final.

Hopefully she can build on this and use it as a learning tool before the Australian Open. Plus i must add that it`s been very fun seeing a lot of Caroline lately. I really hope that a lot more men here in the states has fallen under her lovely spell.

So that`s the end of the US Open. Caroline`s great run to the final along with Flavia and Kat`s good runs were the highlights in singles, while Makiri and Elena had a pretty good run in doubles. Unfortunately there were a lot of bad moments like Vera Z`s meltdown and Masha and Ana`s early exits. Ana really must be kicking herself over blowing that match against Kat. Who knows how far she would`ve gotten had she won those last few games to close out the match.

With the US Open now over with for our favorites, the next tournament on the schedule will be the Bell Challenge in Quebec City. In fact here is the draw for it:

Petrova(1) vs Gullickson
Q vs Brengle
WC-El Tabakh vs Bremond Beltrame
Adamczak vs Czink(5)

Wozniak(3) vs Dentoni
Kulikova vs Cravero
O'Brien vs Kudryavtseva
Granville vs Craybas(6)

Lepchenko(7) vs WC-Mattek-Sands
King vs Q
Tetreault vs Zahlavova Strycova
Dubois vs Safarova(4)

Goerges(8 ) vs Arvidsson
Albanese vs WC-Marino
Perry vs Q
Q vs Lisicki(2)

I`m very surprised that Sabine is going to play so soon after the ankle sprain. Hopefully she can get at least a couple of wins in Quebec City.

The Daywalker · 09-14-2009, 06:33 AM

Caroline definitely lost steam after losing the first set, being up 5-4 and 30-15, it felt so close and then Kim did her thing. It was a hard fought and earned championship for Kim, beating both Williams sisters and a spunky Caroline to win it all. Hats off to her.

**Hot Rod** · 09-14-2009, 01:59 PM

Yeah Kim definitely earned the US Open, especially in beating both of the Williams sisters. However her title win last night has made her a bigger target for our favorites, who will likely be more ready for her.

Anyway here are some great new pics of Makiri at Disneyland.

Makiri looks so irresistbly cute in these pics.

**Hot Rod** · 09-15-2009, 12:51 PM

Here is some news from Quebec City. Earlier today Sabine decided to withdraw from the tournament. While i think that she`s doing the right thing in not playing, i wish that Sabine would`ve done so before the draw was released. Hopefully she`ll be back soon.

The Daywalker · 09-16-2009, 09:10 AM

Makiri certainly does look delicious in those casual outfits. She looks more in her element.

Good for Sabine, she probably thought with treatment she'd be ready to go but then she just wasn't ready and instead of risking a setback, did the smart thing and withdrew.

**Hot Rod** · 09-16-2009, 01:49 PM

I agree with you on Makiri Chris. While i think that she looks very good glammed up, the casual outfits really bring out Makiri`s overwhelming cuteness.

While i`m on the subject of cuteness, i`ve got some news on Anna and unfortunately it isn`t good. She has a stress fracture on her right foot, which will keep her out 4-6 weeks and could mean the end of the year for her. What a tough turn of event for Anna.

She has at times shown shades of the good form from a couple of years ago, but her play has been so inconsistent this year. Now this injury just adds on to a tough year. I really hope that Anna will get well soon. I would prefer for her to sit out the rest of the year and come back strong early next year down under.

Anyway here are some new pics of Masha in the Russian edition of Marie Claire and from a new Nike ad.

Maybe it`s just me, but i`m not feeling the ad.

I understand them going for a different look, but it would be better if Masha was more sweaty.

However i must say that she looks very good in the hoodie.

**Hot Rod** · 09-20-2009, 12:48 AM

Here are the draws for the Hansol Korea Open:

Hansol Korea Open singles:

(1)Daniela Hantuchova SVK v Ayumi Morita JPN
(wc)So-Jung Kim KOR v Chanelle Scheepers RSA
Kimiko Date Krumm JPN v (wc)Ye-Ra Lee KOR
Katarina Srebotnik SLO v (5)Alisa Kleybanova RUS

(3)Francesca Schiavone ITA v Q
Maria Kirilenko RUS v Q
Anastasija Sevastova LAT v Mathilde Johansson FRA
Urszula Radwanska POL v (7)Vera Dushevina RUS

(6)Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS v Angela Haynes USA
Q v Yung-Jan Chan TPE
Viktoriya Kutuzova UKR v Q
Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER v (4)Sorana Cirstea ROU

(8)Sybille Bammer AUT v Ekaterina Makarova RUS
Magdalena Rybarikova SVK v Alberta Brianti ITA
(wc)Mi Yoo KOR v Meghann Shaughnessy USA
Andrea Petkovic GER v (2)Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP

Hansol Korea Open doubles:

(1)Groenefeld/Srebotnik v Lu/S.Sun
C.W.Chan/Xu v Gullickson/Kriz

(3)Kleybanova/Makarova v (wc)Kim/Lee
Grandin/Haynes v Hsu/Namigata

Ferguson/Maekawa v Y.J.Chan/Spears
Cirstea/Shaughnessy v (4)Jans/Rosolska

Petkovic/Rybarikova v Han/S.Zhang
Chang/Chen v (2)Chuang/Yan

I think that the singles draw looks good for some of our favorites. Obviously there will be some tough players that will give our favorites a lot of trouble like Francesca Schiavone, Anabel Medina Garrigues and Alisa Kleybanova, but at the same time, i think that this is a good opportunity for some of our favorites to get off to a good start in the stretch run of the season. I really hope that they will do well in Seoul next week.

Anyway here are a couple of new pics of Sorana along with a practice pic of Dani in Seoul and a couple of pics of Makiri at the airport after landing in Seoul.

The Daywalker · 09-20-2009, 01:08 PM

That's a queue little outfit

**Hot Rod** · 09-22-2009, 04:53 PM

Here is the first update from Seoul.

First of all, Makiri defeated Sophie Ferguson 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. Good win for Makiri.

Obviously this wasn`t one of Makiri`s best performance, but she did a good job of coming back after the first set.

Unfortunately Makiri`s win was the only good news as Ula was routed by Verad Dushevina 3-6, 1-6 and Sorana was upset by Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-7(3), 6-3, 3-6. Obviously these are pretty disappointing results, especially for Sorana, who blew a 2-0 lead at the start of the third set and wasted plenty of good opportunities in the set.

So in all it was a disappointing day in Seoul for some of our favorites. Tomorrow Dani will take on Ayumi Morita in her first round match. Hopefully she can get off to a good start in Seoul.

Anyway here are some pics from Makiri`s match along with some practice pics and a pic from the Players` Party.

Makiri showing her frustration.

I love it when she gets feisty.

Good job Makiri.

Makiri, Dani and Sorana looked very lovely at the party.

It`s nice to see the ladies having some fun at practice.

The Daywalker · 09-22-2009, 08:54 PM

Makiri looks great in that basic outfit