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Zvonareva has too much power for Sharapova

Saturday 07 August 2004 00:00 BST
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Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova was eliminated from the Rogers Cup on Thursday, losing 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Vera Zvonareva. Sharapova was outworked in the duel between baseline hitters, losing for the second time in two tournaments to a fellow Russian since her Wimbledon triumph.

"It's disappointing but no hard feelings," said Sharapova, the sixth seed.

"I know you can't win everything and you're going to lose sometimes.

I'll go home and train now and get ready for the U.S. Open."

The 10th-seeded Zvonareva advanced to Friday's quarterfinals to face another teenaged sensation, 16-year-old Tatiana Golovin of France.

The Moscow-born Golovin, trained at the same Florida tennis academy as Sharapova, downed unseeded Gisela Dulko of Argentina 6-7 (0-7), 6-3, 6-4.

In other matches, former champions Amelie Mauresmo and Jennifer Capriati advanced to the quarterfinals.

Mauresmo, who beat Capriati in the 2002 final, overcame 14th-seeded Elena Bovina of Russia 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to reached the quarterfinal round for the third straight year.

The second-seeded Mauresmo will face 12th-seeded Karolina Sprem of Croatia, who beat No. 7 Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-3, 6-4.

Capriati, the No.5 see who won the tournament in 1991 as a 15-year-old, beat Mary Pierce 6-2, 6-4 in a match between former Australian and French Open champions.

With the first set tied at 2-all, Capriati won five straight games.

She served for the match at 5-3 in the second and was broken, but broke Pierce to win the third-round match.

"She started playing better in the second set, playing like she had nothing to lose," Capriati said.

"I had to stay in there and stick it out.

"It is Capriati's first tournament since Wimbledon following a hamstring injury.

"I feel like I really played well and there was no sign of any layoff or rust," the Capriati said.

"It was a lot better than the first day, that's for sure.

" Capriati, who will face unseeded Russian Elena Likhovtseva, reached the finals the last two times she played in the Canadian tournament, in 2001 and '02.

"The timing is good," she said.

"It's a big tournament; it's just before the U.S. Open; it's a place where I want to get a good start on the tournaments coming ahead.

The hardcourts favor me and I play well.

And it's not far.

It's an easy place to play.

" French Open champion Anastasia Myskina beat No.

15 Chanda Rubin 6-4, 6-0, and will face No.

13 Magdalena Maleeva, who beat No. 9 Paola Suarez of Argentina 6-4, 6-3.

Likhovtseva upset 11th-seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-2, 6-3.

Myskina, ranked fifth in the world, has been playing with confidence since her breakthrough victory at Roland Garros.

She lost to Lindsay Davenport in the final at San Diego last weekend.

"It changed my life.

Definitely my mentality changed after the French Open," Myskina said.

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