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Women stars exit in a hurryContinued"I don't even think at the Tier I events you see players that come out of nowhere. Every time you see a champion at the Tier 1 events, it's possible that player is playing well at that moment, and I don't think usually on the women's tour you have big surprises, like, really big, big surprises." What Hingis means, too, is that all the players who pushed through have pretty decent resumes. They were all seeds, even Bammer, at No. 33. Some of the matches were toss-ups to begin with, but that wasn't the case with Sharapova and Zvonareva, as Maria appeared to have Vera figured out the last couple of times they've played. But, not on Tuesday, because really, it didn't matter much who she is playing. Sharapova is struggling in a big way mentally and probably physically, but she won't admit it. She was completely out of sorts from 5-3 ahead in the second set onwards and played about as sloppy as she ever has for the next eight games, losing them in succession. She served terribly once again, couldn't get her forehand under control, didn't return well and threw in a few ill-timed net charges. "It's strange," said Sharapova. "Serving for the match, the only unforced error I really made was a swing volley. And after that I just deflated a little. I wasn't moving well at all. When I served, I missed the first ball. That obviously gives your opponent so much confidence. She just started swinging and wasn't making a lot of errors." Sharapova ended the match with an astounding 47 unforced errors, including 13 double faults. It was 22-year-old Zvonareva's first victory over Sharapova in her last four attempts. Sharapova said she was rusty and gave credit to her foe, but Vera Z. didn't have to do much except move the ball around, which she is quite capable of doing. If you look at Sharapova's game after her devastating loss to Serena in the Aussie Open final, it's fraying at the edges. She doesn't just have physical work to do before Miami, she has a lot of mental reconstruction to engage in, too. A DELIGHTFUL RIVALRY Unfortunately, Hantuchova has five less Slam titles than Hingis does. She can play very pretty, but has had some very ugly three-set losses. "She's so good," Hingis said. "Sometimes I feel like what has she done all those years when she beat me here in the finals. It's just confidence. She beats the top players. She can do it, only like if she believes. I practice with her. She tells me in the locker room, "With you, I feel like we play tennis." That's how I feel, because she knows the game, like it used to be against Jennifer Capriati or Lindsay [Davenport] or the Williams sisters. I put her in that group in the past because she knows the game. It's just like so much mental with her. It's just amazing how much the mind can do to you. She loses matches 6-4, 7-6 in the third and when she has had it in her hands. She let's it go. But she's done that for five years. … {But] she's smart. She knows what I'm doing. She reads my game. I read hers. She has great serves. She can also stick in the rally. She doesn't just do something really stupid. She goes usually for the right shots. Sometimes it's like really close to the lines and sometimes it will miss, but it's never I feel like she's going for the wrong shot." That's a heap of praise for a woman with one career title, but Hingis has always been a good judge of playing capability. Hantuchova will play Peer and with Sharapova and other exiting, the title race is very wide open. Hantuchova has more experience than any other player in the draw and now we'll see whether she really believes she can beat very good players on a consistent basis. "I feel it's coming now," she said. "You can't really force that. Unless you have the experiences of big matches, and I think by now, I've been through them, and through a lot, and I have learned my lessons. So I think now I'm more prepared to play the big matches well." The other quarters are Zvonareva v. Li, Golovin v. Bammer and Kuznetsova v. Vaidisova. The Austrian Bammer is the only one traveling with a child – her daughter, Tina, who is five. Much more on Bammer on Wednesday, but major props to the 25-year-old for deciding to play after she had a child and then making a major commitment to her career. Her first goal was to crack the Top 100 and now it's the Top 30. She's a Top-5 parent because she can travel with a 5-year-old week after week, all over the world, and smile about playing fun games on the plane with Tina. Talk about a model of patience. More on the lefty on Wednesday. Quickly before I forget: Chakvetadze has started to work with Robert Lansdorp, Sharapova's former coach. He's not going to travel with her much, but she worked with him in LA before the tournament began and is planning to returning at some point. He loves her variety and touch but says the first thing he noticed was that she doesn't know how to hit any two balls the same way. She's always trying different speeds and spins, which is fine, but with Lansdorp students like Sharapova and Davenport, you can see just how cleanly they hit and how they are bio-mechanically programmed to smoothly strike the lines. NADAL, RODDICK HAVE BEST SHOT AT TITLE In the breaking news department, Scott said that he has been approached by an interested party who wants to keep women's pro tennis alive in San Diego. The current tournament will be gone after this summer, but another could take its place. It's very early in the process, though, to get excited. © TennisReporters.net 2007
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