Maria Sharapova saved her most piercing shriek to punctuate her final shot of the first set, a thunderous cross-court backhand winner to close out a tiebreaker.
She squealed in satisfaction, then dominated the rest of the way yesterday to beat Karin Knapp 7-6 (4), 6-0 in the third round of the French Open.
The top-ranked Sharapova needed 81 minutes to win the opening set. She squandered a lead and fell behind in the tiebreaker, then benefited from some shaky shots by Knapp.
In the second set, Sharapova played her best tennis of the week.
“It was good to finish it off in two sets,” she said. “I had to change the situation and I did it.”
Sharapova again struggled with her serve and had nine double-faults, giving her 36 in three matches. But she won 11 of 13 points at the net and her ground strokes became more steady in the second set.
After winning the Australian Open in January, Sharapova needs only a French Open title to complete a career Grand Slam. Clay is her least favorite surface, but she became top-seeded at Roland Garros after four-time champion Justine Henin retired two weeks ago.
With no US women left in the tournament, perhaps the Americans can claim 18-year-old Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, who has lived the past two years in Scottsdale, Arizona. The No. 16 seed beat No. 18 Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 6-1 and has lost only six games in three matches this week.
Azarenka took advantage of Schiavone’s weak second serve, winning 23 of those 28 points. Since the start of the year, Azarenka has climbed in the rankings from 30th to a career-high 17th.
“This year I improved a lot my forehand, which was my weak shot,” she said. “Now it’s like my weapon, which helps me a lot.”
Azarenka will play No. 4 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova next, who faced only one break point and beat Nadia Petrova 6-2, 6-1.
Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion, beat Azarenka in their two previous meetings.
“She’s a big player, but she’s also human,” Azarenka said. “I played her two times already. It probably won’t be that scary anymore.”
In her match with Petrova, Kuznetsova hit five aces and lost only five points on her first serve. She said she changed her service motion two months ago.
“I need my serve more than ever, so I’m really focused on it and I feel like I’m doing much better,” Kuznetsova said. “I feel so much power in it, more consistent. I feel really good when I can get everything together.”
Sharapova will play fellow Russian Dinara Safina next, seeded 13th, who defeated Zheng Jie 6-2, 7-5.
In the completion of a match suspended because of darkness, No. 3 Jelena Jankovic beat No. 28 Dominika Cibulkova 7-5, 6-3. Jankovic led 4-2 in the second set when play was halted on Friday.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Akiko Morigami accused a national team coach of asking her to throw a doubles match at the French Open, Japanese media reported yesterday.
A Japanese coach allegedly told Morigami a defeat would boost partner Aiko Nakamura’s chances of qualifying for the Beijing Olympics by freeing her up for a tournament next week, the Jiji Press report said.
“That a coach would say that to me before a match was a shock,” Morigami was quoted as saying after a 6-0 6-1 first-round defeat by Taiwan’s fourth seeds Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung on Friday.
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