SHARAPOVA PULLS OUT OF DUBAI DUE TO VIRUS
World number one and Australian Open winner Maria Sharapova pulled out of Dubai tournament suffering from a virus. www.telegraph.co.uk leads with the story of the Russian defending her actions...
Maria Sharapova defends Dubai pull-out
Maria Sharapova made what she insisted was a smart decision to withdraw from the star-studded Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships yesterday. Upsetting the organisers, who had used her high profile to publicise the £1.5 million tournament, was a small price to pay, she insisted, in the overall picture of seeking to depose Justine Henin as world No 1.Smart move? Maria Sharapova defends her decision in Dubai
Sharapova is unbeaten in 14 matches this year - seven of them in the Australian Open, in which she thrashed Henin in the quarter-finals before beating two of the other three players above her in the rankings: the Serbs Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic.
The 21-year-old Russian believed that immaculate record was put at too much risk after flying across the Gulf from Sunday's triumph in Doha to the neighbouring Arab Emirates.
"I have done a lot of travelling in the last few weeks," said Sharapova, who has developed a viral infection. "Going to Australia, Israel, then home, with no rest at all, then practising for Doha before making the long trip there. It has taken its toll.
"I have made some wrong decisions in the past. I have played on after getting injured or sick. When you do that, you are liable to hurt yourself. I have a long year ahead of me and I have to be smart about my plans. Realistically, I didn't think I could play five matches here."
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Anna Chakvetadze, another talented blonde Russian, was close to tears after her opening match - not that she was beaten on court but because she was almost beaten up off it just before Christmas.
The sixth seed, who was stretched to breaking point before overcoming the determined Polish qualifier Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, was asked how she had coped with the trauma of being assaulted, tied up and robbed by masked raiders at her Moscow home. "I don't like to talk about it," she lamented, before adding: "You have to fight back in a situation like that."
She was unable to stop the thieves from making off with about £150,000 in cash and valuables.
But she used those stubborn fighting qualities to earn a second-round clash this afternoon with her compatriot Dinara Safina for the probable right to face Jankovic in the quarter-finals.
Nadia Petrova, yet another of the cluster of talented Russians, had expected to be the first opponent for holder Henin today but failed to keep that second-round appointment by losing to the Slovenian qualifier Katarina Srebotnik.
The slump of last year's Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli continued with a 6-1, 6-7, 6-1 exit at the hands of Italy's Francesca Schiavone.
World No 9 Bartoli overtook Amelie Mauresmo as French No 1 last October. Mauresmo's recent record reduced her to unseeded outsider status here and she was relieved to go through by a 7-6, 6-2 margin against Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues.
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