Crowning blow sends Sharapova packing
NEW YORK - If uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, as Shakespeare's Henry IV once said, then Maria Sharapova should be waking up today with a major hangover.
With a 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 loss to a Polish teenager named Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round of the US Open yesterday, the defending champion became the first No. 2 seed to fall before the fourth round since Andrea Jaeger was upset in the second round by Andrea Leand in 1981.
Though her tiara seemed wobbly from the outset, Sharapova did manage to straighten herself out in the second set, at one point winning eight straight games to go up, 2-0, in the third. But just as suddenly her game vanished. Struggling with the wind and her own lack of focus, the 20-year-old Russian tossed balls toward the cloudless sky and then pounded those serves right into the net. In all, she had 12 double faults and 49 unforced errors, compared with less than half that for the 30th-seeded Radwanska.
"I could sit here and try to think, 'What happened?' " said Sharapova, who has been bothered by a shoulder injury much of the year, contributing to her semifinal loss to Ana Ivanovic at the French Open and Round of 16 dismissal by Venus Williams at Wimbledon, though she did reach the final at the Australian Open in January before losing to Serena Williams. "You've got to give her a lot of credit for finishing the match and winning it. A lot of girls in her position on a big stage in a big stadium against a top player sometimes get a little nervous. She held on there, and all the credit to her for winning the match."
Sharapova led a charge out of the Open of seeded players and well-known names in the bottom half of the women's draw. No sooner had seventh-seeded Nadia Petrova fallen to 18-year-old Hungarian Agnes Szavay, 6-4, 6-4, than No. 16 Martina Hingis, the champion here in 1997, was upset by another 18-year-old, former world No. 1 junior Victoria Azarenka, 3-6, 6-1, 6-0. When 11th-seeded Patty Schnyder lost, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), to Austrian Tamira Paszek, the runner-up in the US Open juniors last year, that opened up the draw for a couple of Russians, fourth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 6 Anna Chakvetadze. And in perhaps the best match of the women's tournament thus far, 18th-seeded Shahar Peer from Israel needed four match points, three in the third-set tiebreaker, before she finally forced 13th-seeded Czech Nicole Vaidisova to smack a forehand into the net for a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) upset. Peer will now face Radwanska for a spot in the quarterfinals.
For a moment it looked as if Roger Federer's crown might just tumble as well, but the three-time defending champion rebounded from a tiebreak loss in the first set against former Georgia Bulldog John Isner to pull out a 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 victory. The glass slipper was also shattered for another American upstart, 18-year-old Donald Young, who won the first set but then fell to Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) 7-5. Fifth-seeded Andy Roddick, last year's runner-up and the champion here in 2003, wasted no time in dismissing Swede Thomas Johansson, 6-3, 6-2, 6-0. No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko rolled to a 7-5, 6-0, 7-5 win over No. 28 seed Nicolas Almagro of Spain. And sixth-seeded James Blake beat Stefan Koubek, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1, in a match that finished after 1 a.m. today.
"To win matches and rounds in this tournament is awesome," said the 18-year-old Young, a wild card here who was ranked No. 233 entering the tournament but will now move into the top 170. "Third round of the US Open, a tournament that I've watched since I was little and always wanted to play in. Anyway you can take it, I'll take it."
Isner wouldn't trade his US Open experience for anything. Likening the atmosphere of playing in front of 20,000-plus fans on Arthur Ashe Stadium to competing for the NCAA team title in Athens, Ga., the 6-foot-10-inch Isner only barely let the occasion overwhelm him.
After he held serve for 6-6 in the first set with back-to-back aces and then began the tiebreaker by winning two of his first three points with aces, the 22-year-old North Carolinian won the set with two more service winners.
As he sat in his chair during that changeover, Isner momentarily looked over at Federer, a man he has watched on television for years.
"It was amazing," said Isner, who only four months ago was unranked and untested on the pro tour. "By far that was the most fun I have ever had playing a tennis match. The feeling of beating Roger Federer in a set, sitting down it was crazy."
Having taken a set off Federer was apparently enough for Isner, who dropped his serve in the first game of the second set and quickly went down, 4-0. From then on, the outcome was never in doubt.
"I enjoyed [the match], actually, believe it or not," said Federer, who served 10 aces to Isner's 18. "Because the challenge of the serve. I love playing guys like this. You don't get to play big servers like this every day. I've played the kick servers and the guy who just keeps it to my backhand all day. But the guys relying purely on their serve and taking chances on my own serving games, I don't face very often."
