Sharapova shines as others fade away

TENNIS:A FLAT-FOOTED Ana Ivanovic and a completely out-of-sorts Polish third seed Agnieszka Radwanska bade an early farewell to a cool and blustery Roland Garros yesterday.

For a woman who showed no weaknesses while dispatching Venus Williams in the previous round, Radwanska unusually suffers stage fright when she comes face-to-face with 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

So it proved again yesterday as the world number three froze on the biggest stage in clay court tennis, winning a measly three games during a 6-1 6-2 third-round humbling by the Russian 26th seed on Philippe Chatrier Court.

Kuznetsova skipped off court – perhaps to experiment with another eye-catching hairdo after showing off cropped, tight braids – after notching up a sixth successive win over Radwanska and securing a last-16 date with Sara Errani. The defeat also dashed Radwanskas hopes of finishing the tournament as world number one as she had been in a three-way race for the top spot with Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova.

Italy’s Errani may not yet be a household name but she is likely to provide a stiffer test to Russian Kuznetsova as she has already won three claycourt titles this season.

Earlier yesterday Errani roared back from a first-set meltdown to beat Ivanovic 1-6 7-5 6-3 and reach the fourth round in Paris for the first time. After assured performances in her last two outings, Ivanovic had high hopes of progressing beyond the fourth round of a major for the first time since her triumph here in 2008. It was not meant to be for the bubbly 24-year-old Serbian.

“I was making some unforced errors when I was too flat-footed,” said the 13th seed. “Some double faults really came out of nowhere. Maybe I wasn’t using my legs enough. It’s really disappointing because I felt like I had a game and I was playing really well. My serve really let me down.”

It is a sentiment probably shared by Japan’s Ayumi Morita, who simply could not fire up her serving arm and fell by the wayside 6-1 6-1 in a second-round thrashing by title favourite Sharapova. The Russian second seed had been scheduled to face Morita on Thursday but failed to get on to Centre Court after Paul-Henri Mathieu took almost six hours to beat John Isner.

With the weather having turned so fresh that the usual queues around the ice-cream stands had disappeared, Sharapova refused to hang around longer than necessary. “It was a pretty long day yesterday. I feel like I warmed up like 20 times for this match,” said Sharapova. “It was one of those days where you just want to get on the court and then, you’re (hanging around) all day, sitting, waiting around, eating, sleeping. It’s like a good way to put someone into retirement. It was nice to get out there today and finish it.”

The Japanese player did well to keep Sharapova on court for an hour but her postcard home from Paris is unlikely to contain too many happy memories as she managed to hold serve just twice.

Murray set to gamble again

AS IVAN Lendl left with Andy Murray after a 45-minute workout to test his rolling back spasm, he turned to waiting fans and journalists who crowded around the small exit and said softly: “He’s okay.”

Neither a ringing endorsement of the Scot’s fitness nor reason to be unnecessarily pessimistic about his chances of beating the Colombian Santiago Giraldo in the third round of the French Open today, the coach’s mini-report at least suggested Murray will make it on to the court.

Once there, it will be the player’s call – as it was when he ignored the advice of Lendl and his back-up team after the first set of that excruciating trial of mind and body against Jarkko Nieminen on Thursday.

Some have described Murray’s decision to keep playing through what was clearly debilitating pain as foolhardy; outside some seething television commentary boxes and outposts of planet tennis still moored to the 19th century, it was courage of a high order. Lendl said later: “It’s always good to get through a match like that.” It is a response that could be taken one of two ways: he was either relieved that Murray’s gamble in ignoring his advice had paid off, or proud of him for toughing it out. Either way, it was a significant moment in their short relationship. If there were any doubts before, there are none now: Murray is the boss.

The howling has just about cooled to a few whimpers – and Virginia Wade has been noticeably quiet since labelling Murray “a drama queen” – but the clamour will no doubt rise again should Murray have the gall to get injured and show it.