Maria Sharapova

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (Russian: ?????? ???????? ?????????; born April 19, 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player, and currently World No. 1 as of September 12, 2005. Her parents are originally from Gomel, Belarus, but moved to Russia in 1986 in the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Sharapova was born in Nyagan, Russia, the following year.

US Open 2005

Sharapova was defeated in the semi-finals of the US Open against Kim Clijsters after a nerve-wrecking encounter that ended 2-6 in first set, followed up by 7-6 in the second (ending in a tie-break) to finally lose with 3-6 in the third. Sharapova's defeat was much due to her inconsistent serves that led to a total of seven double faults during the encounter. Nevertheless, after falling behind 0-40 in the 12th game of the second set, the Russian started uncorking winners and managed to bring the game to deuce where after she fought off two more match points to force a tiebreak. Unfortunately, she didn't have the physical endurance left to pull-off a winning game on the last set and inevitably lost the match to Clijsters for the fourth time in a row.

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