RG.9- Surrender Sharapova

Evidently, it was inevitable.

Actually, it's been as good as written in the air by a skywriting airplane since the 1st Round -- "Surrender Sharapova."

Roland Garros has been demanding Maria Sharapova's head on a stick for about a week now. Evgeniya Rodina allowed her to slip by without being completely embarrassed, while Bethanie Mattek and Karin Knapp made her sweat and prepared everyone for what was to come. Finally, on Day Nine, Marat's sister put the Supernova out of her Parisian misery... but even knowing all we already knew before today, it's still a little surprising how "helpful" Sharapova was during the process.

Despite her gaudy 27-2 record coming into Roland Garros, Sharapova didn't exactly bring her entire game to Paris. As long as she has a checklist, though, she should be able to get everything she needs packed into her suitcase for her trip to Charles de Gaulle International Airport. Because after her 4th Round loss today to Dinara Safina, that's exactly where's she going -- out of town.

Maybe Venus and Serena will save her an aisle seat on the plane.

Yeah, probably not.

Of course, it didn't have to happen this way. Not yet. As great as Safina was in keeping her cool to continue her breakthrough clay spring, Sharapova had this match wrapped up and allowed it to slip away. Up 7-6/5-2, and holding match points at 5-3 and 6-5 in the 2nd set, Sharapova's inability to aggressively put the match to bed combined with Safina's finally-steely will to eventually run the #1-seed out of the tournament by a 6-7/7-6/6-2 score.

In the 3rd set, Sharapova even seemed a little lost in the sea of red clay... maybe no longer a cow on ice, but possibly a cat on a hot tin roof. With her serve still sputtering and starting at various intervals, and her own surprisingly tentative play only serving to abandon her even farther away from home, her hopes were lost for good. She ended up once again displaying her inability to right her course in the middle of a slam and find a way to scrape and claw and pull off something amazingly Williams-esque when she arrives in town while not playing at a high level.

Maybe it's the clay still working a shell game on her psyche that caused her play (starting with her serve) to sag in Paris, even after she claimed her first clay court title and reaching the Rome SF this spring. If so, then she'll be glad to know that the grass at the All-England Club should be a far more welcoming adversary that is willing to bend a bit more to her will.

Although, it should be noted from the outset that the Williams sisters might not be quite so obliging once Sharapova gets there.



=DAY 9 NOTES=
...Safina now has 2008 wins over Justine Henin, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. She's the only player who can boast such an accomplishment this season... and barring a Taureau turnaround she'll be the last player to ever be able to say she did pulled off that trifecta.

...the other completed women's Round of 16 match saw Elena Dementieva outlast Vera Zvonareva in a three-setter that saw the fortunes of both players swing wildly from pillar to post throughout. Punch-Sober won 6-4/1-6/6-2, as Zvonareva was unable to keep up her sterling 2nd set play in the 3rd.

...the women's quarterfinal matches will be filled out on Day Ten, as Svetlana Kuznetsova and Victoria Azarenka (The Contessova leads 6-2/2-2), and Petra Kvitova and Kaia Kanepi (tied at a 6-3 set each) will complete their Round of 16 matches that were suspended today.

...amongst the doubles teams that lost today: #1-seeds Bob & Mike Bryan on the men's side, and #3 Kveta Peschke/Rennae Stubbs and #8 Yan Zi/Zheng Jie. Australian Open champions The Sisters Bondarenko have advanced to the QF.

...and, finally, while the cats were away in Paris, the mice were playing in all sorts of places (or something like that) on the ITF circuit. Some winners: Japan's Akiko Yonemura (again), Russia's Nina Bratchikova (for the second straight week) and Elena Kulikova (#3 on the season), as well as veteran American Mashona Washington, who won a $50K event in Carson, California as a qualifier with a win in the final over Cali Girl Alexa Glatch.



*WOMEN'S DOUBLES QF*
#1 Black/Huber vs. Llagostera-Vives/Martinez-Sanchez
#4 Chan/Chuang vs. #10 Medina-Garrigues/Ruano-Pascual
#6 Azarenka/Peer vs. Dellacqua/Schiavone
#7 Bondarenko/Bondarenko vs. Harkleroad/Voskoboeva
*MEN'S DOUBLES QF*
Cuevas/Horna def. #1 Bryan/Bryan
Soares/Vemic def. #8 Bjorkman/Ullyett
Tipsarevic/Troicki vs. Kunitsyn/Tursunov
#2 Nestor/Zimonjic vs. Darcis/O.Rochus
*MIXED DOUBLES QF*
K.Bondarenko/Kerr vs. TBD
Zheng/Bhupathi vs. Razzano/Wassen
Huber/J.Murray vs. TBD
#2 Peschke/Vizner vs. Husarova/Sa



*2008 WINS OVER WTA #1-RANKED PLAYER*
Australian SF - #5 Sharapova d. Henin
Dubai QF - #24 Schiavone d. Henin
Miami QF - #8 S.Williams d. Henin
Berlin 3rd - #17 Safina d. Henin
R.Garros 4th - #14 Safina d. Sharapova

*2008 WOMEN'S SLAM QUARTERFINALISTS*
=BY NATION=
(#)
4...Serbia (2 AO/2 RG)
3...Russia (1 AO/2 RG)
2...United States (2 AO)
1...Belgium (1 AO)
1...Poland (1 AO)
1...Slovakia (1 AO)
1...Spain (1 RG)
1...Switzerland (1 RG)
--
#- does not include to-be-completed 4th Rd. matches Kuznetsova/RUS vs. Azarenka/BLR and Kvitova/CZE vs. Kanepi/EST

*RG MEN'S/WOMEN'S QUARTERFINALISTS*
=BY NATION=
(#)
4...Spain (Almagro-Ferrer-Nadal-Suarez Navarro)
3...Serbia (Djokovic-Ivanovic-Jankovic)
2...Switzerland (Federer-Schnyder)
2...Russia (Dementieva-Safina)
1...Chile (Gonzalez)
1...France (Monfils)
1...Latvia (Gulbis)
--
#- does not include to-be-completed 4th Rd. matches Kuznetsova/RUS vs. Azarenka/BLR and Kvitova/CZE vs. Kanepi/EST




TOP QUALIFIERS: Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez/ESP & Yanina Wickmayer/BEL
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): Ana Ivanovic/SRB
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st- Sharapova d. Rodina 6-1/3-6/8-6
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #15 Nicole Vaidisova/CZE (1st-Benesova)
UPSET QUEENS: The Czechs
REVELATION LADIES: The Czechs
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Carla Suarez-Navarro/ESP (QF)
IT GIRL: xxx
MADEMOISELLE OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xxx
CRASH & BURN: Serena Williams/USA (3r- lost to Srebotnik)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Maria Sharapova/RUS [2 pts. from 1st Rd. loss]
LAST PASTRIES STANDING: Alize Cornet & Emilie Loit (both 3rd Rd.)
DOUBLES STAR: xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx





All for Day 9. More tomorrow.