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Upstarts upstaged at Wimbledon
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-06-30 08:38
Wimbledon's teenage upstarts were upstaged by the stolid establishment of
women's tennis as the old guard stamped their mark on the championships.
Holder and top seed Serena Williams and fellow former world number one
Lindsay Davenport both swatted teenagers aside on Tuesday while Jennifer
Capriati stomped on young Russian Nadia Petrova.
But 17-year-old Siberian sensation Maria Sharapova bucked the trend, beating
Japanese 11th seed Ai Sugiyama 5-7 7-5 6-1 to reach the semi-finals of a grand
slam for the first time.
"This moment ... I am speechless, really," the 13th seed said. "I always
wanted to play on Centre Court but never thought about reaching the
semi-finals."
She will face 1999 champion and fifth seed Davenport in the last four after
the 28-year-old American thrashed Croatian teenager Karolina Sprem 6-2 6-2.
Rain delays earlier in the tournament meant the top half of the draw were a
round behind, playing to reach the quarters, and Serena meted out the most
one-sided scoreline of the day.
The twice champion flattened 16-year-old French girl Tatiana Golovin 6-2 6-1
to reach the last eight.
Serena pummelled the fastest serve ever by a woman at Wimbledon -- a 126
miles per hour (202.8 kph) scorcher -- and gave Golovin the runaround from the
start. But still she felt she could have done better.
"I really didn't think I played well today," she mused. "I thought I didn't
do some things that I wanted to do, so... I don't know. I guess I can't complain
too much, huh?"
Teenage bravado
Golovin claimed she had been neither overawed nor overpowered and that next
time she would beat Serena, although how much of that can be put down to
16-year-old bravado is debatable.
"I thought I was going to be a little bit more nervous than I was, but I felt
really good out there," she said. "I played well. Playing Serena ... of course,
beating her for the first time, would be really amazing. But I'll do it next
time. I'm getting used to the big courts."
However, it will take more than a familiarity with the world's showcourts to
enable Golovin to beat Serena.
Someone with a much better chance of wrestling Serena's crown from her is
Jennifer Capriati, the fellow American who beat her in the quarter-finals of the
French Open last month and who plays her in the quarters here next.
Capriati swatted aside Russia's 10th seed Nadia Petrova 6-4 6-4 in the fourth
round.
"First, I served well and returned well enough, just solid," she said. "I
just played solid. You know, I just tried to keep the balls long, deep. And then
also I did mix it up.
"I think I just hung in there pretty good and did everything just a little
bit better and really was just more solid out there."
Also in the top half French fourth seed Amelie Mauresmo moved into the
quarters, outfoxing Italy's Silvia Farina Elia 7-5 6-3.
She will face Paola Suarez next after the Argentine beat Italy's Rita
Grande.
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