Associated Press 9y

Maria Sharapova out in Miami

Tennis

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- Maria Sharapova is 0-5 in Key Biscayne finals. This year, her loss came at the start.

Seeded No. 2, Sharapova was upset in her opening match Thursday night by wild-card Daria Gavrilova 7-6 (4), 6-3.

The 21-year-old Gavrilova, who was born in Moscow and is based in Australia, earned her first victory over a top-10 player with a poised, aggressive effort before a near-capacity stadium-court crowd.

Sharapova said she went into the match knowing little about Gavrilova. But Gavrilova was well-acquainted with the Siberia-born Sharapova.

"I have been dreaming about beating Maria since I was probably 12, when I saw her win Wimbledon," Gavrilova said. "She was my idol. She was just huge in Russia."

Sharapova lost serve four times, struggled with her return and found herself in a succession of long rallies thanks to the 5-foot-5 Gavrilova's defensive skills. 

"She runs a lot of balls down," Sharapova said. "I was committing a lot of errors off of those balls and not really staying patient and just going for too many winners."

Sharapova trailed in the first set, rallied and again fell behind in the tiebreaker. She looked back ruefully on an easy overhead she netted on the next-to-last point of the set.

"That would have leveled it in the tiebreaker," she said. "I would have loved to get that one back."

Sharapova then fell behind 3-love in the second set and could never pull even. When she misfired on her final shot, Gavrilova did a pirouette and landed with a big grin.

Gavrilova had been 0-4 against top-10 players.

"I always believed, and that's probably why I won," she told the crowd. "I was very composed. I told myself to keep believing and keep trying."

Ranked 97th, Gavrilova cracked the top 100 this week for the first time. She is making a comeback from a torn ACL in her right knee in 2013.

Venus Williams began her 16th appearance at the tournament by beating qualifier Urszula Radwanska 6-3, 6-2.

Williams, seeded 16th, lost serve three times and committed 21 unforced errors but still advanced in barely an hour. The typically windy weather on the island required an adjustment, she said.

"Those were really challenging conditions," Williams said. "The wind literally blew so many balls in that were going out."

She improved to 55-13 at Key Biscayne, where she won the title in 1998, 1999 and 2001.

"Been down here a little over forever," said Williams, who lives 90 minutes up Interstate 95 in Palm Beach Gardens. "I love playing down here."

Radwanska's sister and former champion Agnieszka Radwanska won her opening match Thursday, beating Anna Schmiedlova 6-4, 7-5.

No. 7-seeded Radwanska, the 2012 champion, has advanced to at least the quarterfinals each of the past five years. She is seeded seventh, and all seeded players had first-round byes.

Aside from Williams, American women went 0-3, with Madison Brengle, Christina McHale and Varvara Lepchenko losing. Caroline Wozniacki, seeded No. 4, beat Brengle 6-0, 6-1. No. 9 Andrea Petkovic swept McHale 6-2, 6-2, and No. 28 Lepchenko was eliminated by Kaia Kanepi 6-2, 6-4.

Seven-time champion Serena Williams is among those playing their opening matches Friday.

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