The draw for 2005 Telecom Italia Masters in Rome has been released and again Maria is the top seed. Maria has a bye in the first round and will play her first match in this tournament against either Alina Jidkova of Russia or Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain.



Maria has never played Medina Garrgues before and played only once against compatriot Jidkova in 2003(Quebec City) and won in 2 easy sets. 6-1 6-2


This is Maria's final event on clay before the 2nd Grand Slam of the year...

Top seed Maria Sharapova lost 6-2 6-4 to former world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne in the German Open quarter-finals on Friday.



Sharapova made a confident start, breaking Henin-Hardenne's opening service game, but the Belgian broke straight back and won the next six games.



"At crucial points she came up with the good shots," the Russian told reporters.



"She has played a lot of matches on clay and having won two titles must give her a lot of confidence."

Maria is through to the quater finals of the Qatar Total German Open in Berlin after defeating Shuai Peng of China in 2 sets: 6-2 6-1



In the quaters, which will be played tomorrow, Maria will either play J. Henin-Hardenne of Belgium or Kveta Peschke of Czech.


check for updates later...

Maria Sharapova looked quick and confident on Wednesday as she breezed past German 19-year-old Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-2 6-2 to win a third round place in the German Open claycourt tournament.



Sharapova, who is the top seed in Berlin and will become world number one if she wins, took control from the start, pushing early to the net for winning returns.



Her match against the German, whose highest world ranking is 40, lasted just over an hour.



In the third round (pl...

A wimbledon champion at 17, Maria Sharapova could soon reach No 1 at 18. If she wins this weeks German Open, Sharapova will move up one spot and overtake Lindsay Davenport to become the first Russian atop the WTA Tour computer rankings since they began in 1975. If it works out, it works out, Sharapova said on Monday. If not, I have a lot of years ahead of me.



She is ranked a career-high No 2, followed by Amelie ...