Sports - Maria Sharapova #7: Because she`s reeking of talent and sex appeal! - Page 4

**Hot Rod** · 05-14-2008, 08:54 AM

Okay here`s an update on the early matches in Rome today.

First of all Makiri finished her match against Nadia Petrova and won the third set 6-4 to complete the win. Good job from Makiri.

In the other suspended match, Nikki won the second set 6-4, but unfortunately lost the third set 2-6 to complete the match. This is getting really bad for Nikki.

I felt that she had a good chance of winning this match, but instead it`s another early exit for her.

On the much more positive note, Alize routed Vera Dushevina 6-1, 6-3. Very good showing there from France`s cutest player.

Also Kat defeated Tathiana Garbin 7-5, 6-4. Very good win there over a hometown favorite by Kat.

Speaking of hometown favorites, Flavia defeated Olga Savchuk 6-7(9), 6-3, 6-1. A much tougher match than expected for Flavia. She really did a good job of turning it up after losing the first set.

We got another all hotties matchups between Vera Z and Iveta. It was a very tight match with Vera coming out with the win 7-5, 4-6, 7-5. I`m very pleased that we got a nice competitive between a couple of our favorite hotties. Vera did a good job of coming out with the win.

As for Iveta, tough loss for her.

Meanwhile Caroline got a measure of revenge against Ekaterina Makarova with a 6-3, 6-4 win. Good win there for the Danish cutie.

Unfortunately it wasn`t all good news in the early second round matches.

First of all Alona was crushed by Serena Williams 2-6, 0-6. I felt that she had a chance in this match, but instead she got beatdown badly.

Then in a more shocking match, Ana was upsetted by Tsvetana Pironkova 4-6, 7-5, 2-6. What a stunning loss for Ana.

From what i`ve read in the report, her serve looked bad and she had a lot of unforced errors in the match. This is a very disappointing performance from Ana. She hasn`t played that well so far in the clay court season. I really felt before it started that she had a chance to win a tournament and then the French Open, but so far for whatever reasons, she hasn`t looked that good. Hopefully Ana can get it together before the French Open.

So that`s the update with the early matches in Rome. Currently we have a couple of all hotties matches between Anna and Kat and Flavia and Jelena. Also Makiri is playing Anabel Medina Garrigues and has just finished the match with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 win. Very good win there for Makiri over a pretty good clay court player.

Also Justine Henin surprisingly announced her retirement today. This means that Masha and Ana will now battle for the #1 ranking. Unfortunately it also makes them an even bigger target for the dreaded Williams sisters. So we`ll see how that will play out.

Anyway here are a couple of pics from Ana`s match.

This obviously illustrates how the match went for Ana.

The Daywalker · 05-14-2008, 04:01 PM

I was only able to catch the Makiri and Ana scores from work, a shame that Ana is out in the first round. We always see one of our ladies bow our early, but Ana has been solid all year.

I'm a bit shocked that Justine is leaving, but I wouldn't be surprised to see her come back in a year or two. She'll miss it and come back.

**Hot Rod** · 05-14-2008, 04:11 PM

Here`s an update on the afternoon and evening matches in Rome.

First of all Masha made her much anticipated return in a rematch of the Amelia Island finals against Domi. It was another competitive match with Masha coming out with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory. Good win there for Masha.

Both she and Domi had a hard time holding serve in the match. Masha ulitimately played better when she needed to, especially when she came back from down 0-2 at the start of the third set, to get the win. As for Domi, tough loss for her.

Obviously she had a golden opportunity in the third set up 2-0, but couldn`t take advantage of it. Still she has nothing to be ashamed of. She played good today in giving Masha a tough match and showing what a tough fighter she is.

Meanwhile in the afternoon matches, we got a couple of all hotties matchups along with Alize`s second match of the day.

First of all Alize got some payback with 6-3, 6-2 win over Francesca Schiavone. Another good win there for Alize.

Anna defeated Kat 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-0. Finally Anna gets a win.

It looked pretty bleak for her when Kat was up 4-0 in the second set, but Anna really fought to win six of the last eight games to send it into a tiebreaker, where she dominated Kat. After that Anna took complete control of the match. This is a great win for her. Hopefully this will give her a much needed confidence boost. As for Kat, i still can`t believe what happened with her. It was obviously that she was pretty much beaten mentally after Anna came back in the second set. Hopefully she won`t let this loss linger.

In the other all hotties matchup, Jelena routed Flavia 6-1, 6-4. Good win there for Jelena.

She looked pretty sharp right from the start. It`s disappointing to see that Flavia couldn`t been more competitive in the match.

Obviously it looked like that she didn`t have much gas left in the tank after a tougher than expected match eariler today.

Also in doubles, the Bondarenko sisters, Makiri and Iveta won their first round matches.

So that`s the story with the remaining matches in Rome. It was a good day with four all hotties matchups. However Ana`s loss puts a dark cloud on the day.

Tomorrow will have plenty of action involving our favorite hotties. Masha will headline the day with her match against Caroline. This will be the third meeting of the year between them, if you count the exhibition in Singapore, with Masha winning both of them. Hopefully we`ll get a more competitive match tomorrow than their last meeting in Doha where Masha crushed Caroline 6-0, 6-1. Also Makiri and Jelena will start out the day with their second meeting in a week. Hopefully we`ll get a more competitive match this time. Later in the day, Anna will take on the always cute but dangerous Aggie. Then afterwards Alize will face Svetlana Kuznetsova. Obviously this will be a very tough for Alize. I hope that she plays hard and give it her best. In the evening match, Vera Z will play Venus Williams. Obviously this will be a tough match for Vera, but at the same time, the red clay will be more in her favor. I hope that our favorite hotties will do well tomorrow.

Anyway here are some pics from today`s matches along with a new pic of Ana and Makiri together.

Masha debuting her latest outfit.

I think she looks good in it.

I love the fingernail polish Domi wore during the match.

Ana and Makiri look very lovely awaiting our arrival for the double date.

**Hot Rod** · 05-15-2008, 02:18 PM

Here`s the latest from Rome.

We got a couple of all hotties rematches today that headlined today`s matches.

First of all Masha and Caroline meet up for their second official meeting of the year. It was a much more competitive match this time with Masha coming out with a 6-4, 7-6(3) victory. Obviously the match was pretty competitive. In fact Caroline was 5-1 in the second set and it looked like she was going to win the set, but then Masha made a strong comeback to win five out of the last six games and then kept it going in the tiebreaker to clinch the match. Good job by Masha of showing her championship toughness once again.

Obviously she didn`t play her best match, but really got it going and used her experience when she needed to. As for Caroline, this is a tough loss for her.

She played very well in getting that 5-1 lead in the second set, but then her inexperience showed in the latter part of the match with her tight play. Still i hope that Caroline doesn`t let this loss stay with her. In fact i think that she has nothing to be ashamed of. She played a good match against one of the best players in the world, which shows some progress for her.

In the other all hotties rematch, Jelena defeated Makiri for the second time in a week, this with a 6-1, 6-1 rout. Good win there for Jelena.

Once again she looked very sharp. However i have to say that i`m sad to see Makiri getting blown out like this.

Obviously it looks like all those matches she played yesterday took a lot out of her.

Meanwhile in a battle of two of the cutest players in the world, Anna defeated Aggie 6-4, 1-6, 6-1. Good win for Anna.

I`m glad to see her winning two matches in a row for the first time in a while. It looks like she`s starting to regain her confidence.

Also we got a huge upset today as Alize knocked off the always tough Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2, 6-4. What a great win for Alize.

She really played very well and showed a lot of poise throughout the match, especially when she lost four straight games in the second set after going up 4-0 before getting the break and then closing out the match. I really feel that this one of those career changing wins for Alize. It`s so great to see her stepping up like this.

However it wasn`t all good news today as Vera Z was beaten by Venus Williams 5-7, 2-6.

Also in doubles, the Bondarenko sisters were beaten in straight sets by the team of Peng and Sun.

However it wasn`t all bad news in doubles as Makiri and Aggie upset the fourth seeded team of Alicia Molik and Mara Santangelo and Iveta was part of another upset. Good win for those three.

I`m glad that there still is a glimmer of hope in doubles.

So in all it was another good day for our favorite hotties. Tomorrow is the quarterfinals. Masha will be in action in the evening against Patty Schnyder. This looks like another tough match for her, especially since she had a couple of tough matches against Patty last year, including the epic in the French Open. So Masha needs to improve on her play tomorrow. Also in the first match of the day, Anna will take on the surprising Tsvetana Pironkova. Obviously Anna will need to come out looking sharp against Pironkova. Then a little later, Alize will meet up again with Serena Williams. Obviously Alize is coming in with a lot of confidence after today`s big win. However she`s going to be in for a real tough one against the always dangerous Serena, who has been knocking off some of the hotties lately. Still i hope that she`ll play hard and give it her best. After that match, Jelena will take on Venus Williams. This also is going to be a tough one for Jelena, but at the same time she has been playing very well and does have a bit of an advantage of the red clay. Still she really need to come out sharp though. Also in doubles, the cute duo of Makiri and Aggie will face Iveta and Janette Husarova. As usual i hope that our favorite hotties will do well tomorrow.

Lastly i saw that Masha will again become the #1 ranked player in the world when the next rankings are released on Monday. It`s great to see Masha back on top again. Even better Ana and Jelena will be right behind her at #2 and #3 respectively.

This has been a long time coming and is another sign of hotties domination with at least three of our hotties in the top 3. As good as it is, this only makes Masha, Ana and Jelena an even bigger target for the dreaded Williams sisters and the always tough Svetlana Kuznetsova. So it`ll be interesting to see how things will go for them now that they are the top three ranked players.

Anyway here are some pics from today`s matches along with some off court pics of Masha in Rome.

Great job Alize.

**Hot Rod** · 05-16-2008, 04:23 PM

Here`s the latest update from Rome.

First of all, Masha had another tough match against Patty Schnyder today, but she comes out with a 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-2 victory. Another good win for Masha.

I`m very pleased with how well she responded in yet another tough match by displaying her championship toughness again in the tough situations, especially when she was down 0-2 in the second set. After that she did a great job of taking control of the rest of the match. Once again Masha finds a way to grind out another win.

Eariler in the afternoon, Jelena kept her quest to repeat alive with a 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Venus Williams. What a great win for Jelena.

She struggled with her serve for much of the match, but did a good job of keeping her poise and using her superior clay court skills to get the win. With her win today, Jelena has beaten both of the Williams sisters, which is a great feat.

Also Anna continued her good run with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 win over the surprising Tsvetana Pironkova. Another good win for Anna.

Once again she didn`t play exactly her best match, but she really turned it up on the third set to get the win. I`m very pleased to see her back on the winning track like this.

Alize was scheduled to play her quarterfinal match against Serena Williams, but it didn`t take place due to Serena withdrawing after suffering back problems while warming up, which means that Alize will get the walkover to the semfinals. While i`m glad to see Alize make her fourth semifinal this year, i hate that it had to be like this. I guess that`s the way things goes sometimes.

Also in doubles, Iveta and Janette Husarova defeated Makiri and Aggie 6-7(4), 6-3, 10-4. Good win for Iveta.

It`s nice to see her doing well in doubles. As for Makiri, it was a good run while it lasted for her and Aggie. They are starting to gel well together. Hopefully we`ll get to see them team up again soon.

So in all it was a great day for our favorite hotties. Now we`ll have an all hotties final four for the second time this year, with the Australian Open being the first time.

It`ll be headlined by the much anticipated match between Masha and Jelena. This will be their second meeting of the year. It looks like a very intriguing matchup with this being their first meeting on clay. Before that match, the first semifinal match will be a battle between two of the cutest players in the world as Anna will take on Alize. This also looks like an intriguing match with Anna resurgent after going through a slump before this tournament, while Alize has been having a great breakthrough tournament. I really hope that we`ll get a couple of very good competitive matches tomorrow.

Anyway here are some pics from today`s matches along with a couple of new pics of Anna K.

Good job Masha!

Great job Jelena!

**Hot Rod** · 05-17-2008, 10:32 AM

Today the second all hotties final four was held in Rome and it was good news and bad news with both matches.

First the bad news. Masha had to withdraw before her match against Jelena due to a left calf strain that developed in her match against Patty Schnyder the night before.

The calf was really sore when she woke this morning and after a little jog, she decided to withdraw. Obviously i hate it for the folks over in Rome, but at the same time i think that Masha is doing the right thing in withdrawing. It`s not worth taking the risk in trying to play, especially with the French Open around the corner. Besides she has already gotten in plenty of preparation with the tough matches she has had in the last three days. So hopefully this isn`t too serious and Masha will come back strong after a little time off.

Meanwhile in the battle of the cuties, Alize defeated Anna 6-3, 4-6, 3-6. Another great win for Alize.

It looked bleak for her when she was down 3-6, 0-3, 30-0, but then she stormed back to win six of the last seven games of the second set and then took control of the third set to win the match, which sends Alize to her first career Tier I final. As for Anna, another disappointing loss for her.

She looked very good early on, but couldn`t win those last two points that would`ve put her up 4-0 and seemed to imploded mentally after Alize came back to win the second set. So it was a miss opportunity there for Anna. Still i`m proud of her for the way she played in Rome.

She got some much needed wins and really showed her tough spunkiness that has been missing for a while. Hopefully this will help her finally get out of that terrible slump.

So now we have yet another all hotties finals tomorrow in Rome. This time it`ll between Jelena the defending champion and the very cute and surprising Alize. It`ll be interesting to see how well Alize will handle being in her first career Tier I final. I hope that we`ll get a pretty good match from the ladies tomorrow.

Anyway here are some pics from today`s match along with pics from Masha`s press conference eariler today and some very hot new pics of Ana from Hello Magazine.

Great job Alize!

Ana really looks smoking hot in these new pics, especially in the shots on the bed.

Now if we can just get her to do a bikini shoot.

**-wait for it-** · 05-17-2008, 03:49 PM

...bikini shoot?

those pics do look hawt (rare time i'll use that spelling) though

in other news she's on the cover of the newest tennis weekly if you live in the u.s

The Daywalker · 05-17-2008, 06:55 PM

Really nice photo shoot for Ana. She looks pretty damn hot in all of them.

I haven't kept up on sports much this weekend, I did see a scrollie of a Jelena/Alize final and I wondered what happened. It's a shame Serena and Masha had to leave early due to injury.

**Hot Rod** · 05-17-2008, 07:27 PM

Glad that y`all love Ana`s new photo shoot. My favorite pic is the one where she`s lying on the wood table. She looks so gorgeous in it.

I`ll be sure to see her in the new issue of Tennis Weekly.

Yes Chris we`re going to have a Jelena/Alize final. Obviously it`s not a surprise to see Jelena in it, but Alize is a big surprise. Like i`ve said eariler, it`ll be interesting to see how she handle being in a Tier I final for the first time in her career.

Anyway here are a few more pics from Masha`s press conference.

BTW i found out eariler today that the T-shirt Masha wore at today`s press conference was designed by Camilla. It`s nice of Masha to show her buddy some support by wearing that T-shirt.

I hope that we`ll get to see them back together again soon.

maggie_may · 05-17-2008, 07:49 PM

Hi everyone, I'm new and just wanted to stop by and say I love Maria.

The Daywalker · 05-17-2008, 08:43 PM

Welcome, Maggie! Maria loves you too

**Hot Rod** · 05-17-2008, 10:33 PM

Welcome Maggie.

I`m sure Maria loves you too for the praise. Don`t be a stranger and come around often.

DUHsoTK · 05-18-2008, 06:11 AM

Oh man, Maria is so cool.
I watched her at the Aussie Open and wow.
Can't wait to see her soon.

**Hot Rod** · 05-18-2008, 11:15 AM

Welcome to the thread Teresa.

Glad that you decided to join us here. I`m very envious of you that you got to see Masha in person. How good does she look in person? Anyway i hope that you won`t be a stranger and come around here often.

Eariler today we got another all hotties final in Rome between Jelena and Alize. In the end Jelena repeated as champion with a 6-2, 6-2 win. Great win for Jelena.

She played another nice solid match to get her first title of the year. As for Alize, tough loss for her.

It was obvious that her inexperience got the best of her in today`s match. Still i think Alize has nothing to be ashamed of. In fact she had a great week in Rome where she reached her first Tier I final and got her first wins over top 10 players. I really hope that she and Jelena can carry over the positive momentium from their great runs in Rome to Roland Garros. Also in the doubles finals, Iveta and Janette Husarova were defeated in straight sets by the always tough duo of Chang and Chuang 6-7(5), 3-6, which prevents a mini hotties title sweep. Tough loss there for Iveta. It was a good run while it lasted for her. Hopefully she`ll get a title soon, because she has been knocking on the door with the recent finals appearance lately.

So it was a great week in Rome for some of our hotties. Starting with Anna getting back on the winning track, Alize`s surprising run, another all hotties final four and Jelena repeating as champion. The only negative though was Masha having to withdraw before her semifinal match against Jelena.

Still it couldn`t dampen the great week. With her title win today, Jelena now joins Masha, Ana, Makiri, Flavia, Anna, Vera Z and the Bondarenko sisters in the hotties winners` circle. Hopefully some of our other favorites like Dani, Nikki and Tati can join the club soon.

Anyway here are some pics from today`s match along with a couple of more pics from Masha`s press conference yesterday.

Alize getting a little feisty with things not going her way.

I hate to see Alize crying.

Very classy of Jelena to comfort Alize and offers her some words of encouragement. Now that`s the good sportsmenship i like to see from our favorite ladies. clap:

I can`t say enough what a lovely cutie Alize is.

Jelena with her latest addition to the trophy case. BTW i like that she wore some fingernail polish during the match, although i think that red is a better color for her.

Great job ladies.

Lets keep it going at Roland Garros.

Masha wearing a Brazil wristband, which is another shoutout to Camilla.

**Hot Rod** · 05-18-2008, 11:16 PM

With Rome now over with, it`s time to focus on the last warmup tournament before the French Open, the Internationaux de Strasbourg in Strasbourg, France, which starts tomorrow. In fact here`s the draw for it:

(1)Marion Bartoli (FRA) vs.Bye
Ioana Raluca Olaru (ROU) vs. Shuai Peng (CHN)
Ashley Harkleroad (USA) vs. Q
(5)Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) vs. Q

(3)Virginie Razzano (FRA) vs. Yung-Jan Chan (TPE)
Casey Dellacqua (AUS) vs. Sara Errani (ITA)
Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) vs. Petra Kvitova (CZE)
Mariya Koryttseva (UKR) vs. (7)Ai Sugiyama (JPN)

(6)Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) vs. Klara Zakopalova (CZE)
Q1 vs. Q2
(wc)Camille Pin (FRA) vs. Stephanie Cohen Aloro (FRA)
(wc)Nathalie Dechy (FRA) vs. (4)Flavia Pennetta (ITA)

(8)Zi Yan (CHN) vs. Mara Santangelo (ITA)
Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) vs. (wc)Jelena Dokic (AUS)
Edina Gallovits (ROU) vs. Julia Vakulenko (UKR)
(2)Alona Bondarenko (UKR) vs. BYE

First of all let me just say that it`s great to see Ashley back.

It`s so great to see her making her long awaited return to the court for the first time since the ovary surgery. Hopefully she`ll give a good effort in Strasbourg. As for the rest of the field, obviously i think that the title will likely be decided in a potential semifinal showdown between Alona and Flavia. I think that Alona has the more favorable draw, although Flavia is better on clay. So it`ll be very interesting to see what will happen with those two. Also Kat has a favorable looking draw to make a nice run. I really hope that Alona, Kat, Flavia and Ashley will do well in Strasbourg this week. It would be nice to see one of them win the title over there and head nto the French Open with some great momentium.

Anyway here are some more pics of Masha at her press conference on Saturday.