The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Sharapova ready for Qatar Open

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 21, 2005

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Sport - Tennis

Sharapova ready for Qatar Open

DOHA, FEB, 20. After a two-week hiatus through illness, Maria Sharapova of Russia is well rested and set to continue her 2005 season by making her maiden appearance at the Qatar Open tennis tournament, which starts on Monday.

Wimbledon champion Sharapova is seeded second behind Amelie Mauresmo of France for the $600,000 (euro 460,000) event in Doha.

Sharapova, 17, landed here on Saturday to restart her season after succumbing to the flu. ``I was down with flu and not feeling a hundred per cent health-wise and that is why I pulled out of the Paris Open more than two weeks ago,'' she told reporters ahead of the six-day tournament. ``I am fully fit now and keen to start playing once again.''

Miami-based Sharapova said she had been training well for the past week and was fit and ready to play.

At the Qatar Open, she will be joined by compatriot and third seed Anastasia Myskina, fourth seed Alicia Molik of Australia, fifth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, sixth seed Elena Bovina of Russia, seventh seed Silvia Farina Elia of Italy, and eight seed Paola Suarez of Argentina in the 32-player field.

The top four seeds have a bye in the first round and will only be seen in action on Wednesday. Sharapova is in the second half of the draw along with two-time Qatar Open champion Myskina, 1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez of Spain and Slovak Daniel Hantuchova.

``There's no such thing as an easy draw,'' Sharapova said. ``I feel that you shouldn't take your opponents easy. I think any player, even if they are lowly ranked, is capable of beating her opponent.''

Despite her cautionary note, Sharapova has been in good form, beating America's Lindsay Davenport, the world's top-ranked player, at the Tokyo Open three weeks ago.

A week earlier, Sharapova reached the Australian Open semifinals where she lost to eventual winner Serena Williams of the United States. — AP

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