2005 Pacific Life Open News
By Eleanor Preston  |  March 15, 2005

Martina Hingis called her a snake. Those with a more tactful take on compliments might have stopped at the term ‘fighter’. Either way Maria Sharapova is one feisty teen.

She had to come from a set down and needed six match-points to get past Fabiola Zuluaga to make it through to the quarterfinals of the Pacific Life Open. The scoreline was 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 and it was by far the most engaging contest of the women’s tournament thus far. Yet again the WTA Tour’s most watchable player grabbed everyone’s attention and wouldn’t let go until she shook hands as a winner.

Though she was careful to give due credit to the Columbian, she was slightly annoyed with herself that she was detained for two hours and hadn’t romped through the match as she has become accustomed to during the last eighteen months. She certainly felt she should have played some of the match-points better.

“It was a big battle out there,” said Sharapova, who lead 5-3 in the third set before Zuluaga clawed her way back. “You know, I basically committed suicide when I had those four match points, especially when I came into the net and stayed in the middle -- like in the no zone. When you're not playing your best tennis, it's good to get through them, especially if you win, because I feel whenever I don't play that well, then the next day I come out and I do better and better. Obviously she played amazing and sometimes, on match point, your opponent has nothing to lose and goes for an unbelievable winner and makes it, and you're standing there open-mouthed, like you just made an error, but you didn't.  She just hit a good shot.”

The Russian knows to her cost what happens when you allow match-points to slip through your fingers having seen three of them come and go against Serena Williams in the Australian Open semi-finals in January. She lost that match and with it a title she was favored to win and the emotional impact of a repeat performance against Zuluaga would have been huge.

Sharapova’s was the last match of the day session, and as the desert sun dipped below the Sierra San Jacinto mountains and doled shadow onto Indian Wells’ stadium court, the temperature dropped. Zuluaga took advantage of the sympathetic conditions in the first set and battled every bit as hard as her more vaunted opponent. In the end it came down to Sharapova’s self-belief.

“As the weather got a little cooler, I think she got the advantage because it was a little slower.  She started getting everything back and the points became a lot longer.  We had really long points and I was just making small errors. I guess, be more consistent when I have to and just tell my mind that you just have to win this point, it's over (and not) go 30 more minutes out there for no reason.”

Sharapova’s perfectionism and ruthless devotion to victory explains why she is a Wimbledon champion at just 17 and why she is going to be more than a challenge for Williams in what is emerging as a fascinating and feisty rivalry.

When asked why she clams up at the mention of Sharapova’s name, Williams becomes tellingly defensive then casually infers that Sharapova would never have beaten her at Wimbledon if Williams had really been trying.

“I was a little depressed after that loss because I was, for some reason I was so nervous going into that match I didn’t do anything right,” she said, clearly mis-remembering quite how well her opponent had played.  “I couldn’t get any of my shots in.  And I just played horrendous and I just gave it away. I’ve never been so nervous in my life. I felt I could have done more, said Williams.”

Serena, who has not played the Pacific Life Open since she was booed by the crowd during the 2001 final in what she feels was racist reaction, will be in Miami next week and will, presumably, renew the rivalry with Sharapova there.

She promises that tennis is her “No.1 priority” but it’s clear she still has a bewildering number of other irons in the fire. “You guys don’t realize, but I have a fashion company,” she snapped, as though all professional athletes were also running corporations on the side.  “I just walked into my office right now.  I'm working on a really intense line for the fall.  I'm an actress.  I'm working on animation series, different reality series. I don’t really think about other people because I really have to focus on me.  You know what I mean?”

If Williams isn’t watching what Sharapova is doing then it’s likely she’s the only one. No-one else can take their eyes off her.

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