Sharapova breezes at windy U.S. Open

A year ago, in the third round of the U.S. Open, Maria Sharapova lost to a new American sweetheart, Melanie Oudin. This time, Sharapova found herself facing another American teenager who had sprung from nowhere to make her mark at Flushing Meadows.

And this time it was different. Sharapova won 6-0, 6-0 on Saturday. Yes, it was crushing for Beatrice Capra, but she seems a bright enough girl to put everything in perspective. Playing as intimidating a figure as Sharapova, now that she is recovering her form after shoulder surgery, in Arthur Ashe Stadium was going to be bad enough, but the match was played in the worst wind conditions I have ever witnessed. The wind swirls at the bottom of the big 23,000-capacity bowl at the best of times, but rarely like this.

The match was interrupted on numerous occasions as bits of paper flew across court in the middle of rallies, and just keeping the ball in play was an achievement. This Capra managed to do with some skill and plenty of determination, and the score hardly reflects how well she stuck to an impossible task.

She had break points and might have won a couple of games under different circumstances.

“Yeah, I could have done better,” the cheerful 18-year-old said. “But when you’re like losing that bad, it’s just in your head, ‘Just please let me win one game!’ Then you get tight because you want to win a game so bad.”

Sharapova was sympathetic.

“It’s obviously really unfortunate that she had to come out first time on Ashe and be in those types of conditions,” Sharapova said. “I’ve been in those types of conditions and actually lost a few matches … some tough ones. She tried to be consistent, and she did really well on her serve, maybe not going for big serves. That was really smart. And then towards the end of the match she started going for a little bit more and making a few more errors.”

But for a player who is ranked No. 371 and had never expected to play here until she won the wild-card tournament at Boca Raton, Fla., last week, Capra can feel satisfied. She beat Karolina Sprem, ranked 95, in the first round, 6-1, 6-3, and then upset the 18th-seeded Aravane Rezai of France, 7-6, 7-6, which took a little nerve and showed her fighting qualities.

“Yeah, it’s been a really great experience,” said Capra, who will take a year off from studies before deciding whether to go to college. “I mean, it’s still nothing but positives for me.”

At a different level, there has been nothing but positives for No. 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki, who seems to have forgotten how to lose games, let alone sets or matches. The Dane beat Yung-Jan Chan of Taiwan, 6-1, 6-0. That means Wozniacki has reached the fourth round with the loss of just three games. The draw might have been kind to her, but that still takes some doing. Next up, however, it will be different. She plays Sharapova.

Kaia Kanepi, the powerfully built 31st seed from Estonia, created the upset of the day when she beat Jelena Jankovic, seeded fourth, 6-2, 7-6 (1). Jankovic has had a poor U.S. Open Series this summer and, with her confidence low, the conditions did nothing to help her in Ashe.

“I had a hard time serving,” she said. “You toss the ball, and it was all over the place. And then you hit the ball in one direction and it goes another. But my opponent handled the wind a lot better than I did. She was the better player today. Congrats to her.”

Kanepi will now play last year’s surprise semifinalist, Yanina Wickmayer, who squeaked through a tight one against Swiss left-hander Patty Schnyder, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (6).

When Schnyder, who has been on the tour for 15 years, led 5-3 in the deciding tiebreaker, it seemed experience would take her through. But on the 10th point, Wickmayer was finally drawn into the net at the end of a long rally and put a volley deep into Schnyder’s backhand corner.

But the 6-foot Belgian then missed a forehand pass by an inch, and it was match point to Schnyder at 6-5. Wickmayer went for broke with a big forehand that Schnyder couldn’t handle, and two points later, Schnyder’s double fault handed Wickmayer a nerve-racking victory, 8-6.

Sight of the Day: Roger Federer being escorted through the player’s lounge by not one, not two, but SEVEN bodyguards, all of whom looked capable of dealing with Schwarzenegger and Stallone with a flick of the wrist. To be fair, they seemed to be heading for a public area, but Federer did have the decency to look a little embarrassed as his peers stopped and stared.