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About Maria Sharapova |
Sharapova recently purchased a beach home in Manhattan Beach, California, a
suburb of Los Angeles, but lives most of the year near the IMG training facility
in Bradenton. In 2004, a year after reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon as a
wild card, Sharapova became the third-youngest Wimbledon women's champion (after
Lottie Dod and Martina Hingis) and second-youngest in the open era by defeating
Ai Sugiyama (5-7, 7-5, 6-1) in a quarterfinal, Lindsay Davenport (2-6, 7-6, 6-1)
in a semifinal, and two-time defending champion Serena Williams (6-1, 6-4) in
the final. She also became the first Russian to win that tournament. At the U.S.
Open a few months later, she lost to French player and two-time Grand Slam
champion Mary Pierce. Sharapova ended 2004 with a victory at the season-ending
WTA Championships, defeating an injured Serena Williams (4-6, 6-2, 6-4) after
coming back from 0-4 in the final set.
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After losing to Sharapova in a semifinal of this event, Anastasia Myskina said:
"He [Sharapova's father] was just yelling and screaming instructions to her and
I thought he just might jump right on the court at one point in the match". From
June 2004 until her Wimbledon semifinal appearance in 2005, Sharapova won 22
straight matches on grass, including consecutive Birmingham titles and the
Wimbledon title. She reached the semifinals of the 2005 Australian Open, where
she held three match points against Serena Williams before losing 2-6, 7-5, and
8-6. Off court, she was paid for numerous commercial endorsements. | |
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