Tomorrow afternoon Maria will play her first match in Doha against Maria Gisela Dulko of Argentina. Dulko reached the second round after defeating Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain. 6-1 1-6 6-4


Maria has played Dulko once before at the 2004 Acura Classic in San Diego and won in 2 easy sets (6-0 6-1).



This match will not start before 16.30
Good Luck Maria!

The draw for the Qatar Total Open 2005 in Doha has been released.
Maria, second seed for this tournament, has a bye for the first round and in the second round Maria will play either Anabel Medina-Garrigues of Spain or Argentinas Gisela Dulko.

Maria has played Dulko once before at the 2004 Acura Classic in San Diego and won in 2 easy sets (6-0 6-1). This is Maria's first appearance in Doha and she has no points to defend this week.

Read on…

Maria beat injury-hampered Lindsay Davenport 6-1 3-6 7-6 to win the Pan Pacific Open on Sunday.
The Russian converted her fourth match point to take the third set tiebreak 7-5 and halt Davenport's bid for a record fifth title at the $1.3 million event.



Sharapova's eighth career title means she will rise from fourth to third in the world rankings.



It had looked as though Sharapova would run away with the match as she took the first set in just 22 minutes.

Maria reached her first final this year by defeating Shinobu Asagoe of Japan today in Tokyo. 6-1 7-6


Maria was sharp from the beginning and had little trouble breezing through the set using strong serves and crisp ground strokes.


In the second set, world number 32 Asagoe was a different player as she rediscovered her serve and fought tirelessly to put pressure on her Russian opponent with some long rallies.


But in the tiebreak her sixth double-fault and a lucky ace by ...

Maria Sharapova has overpowered fellow Russian Elena Likhovtseva 6-3 6-3 to advance to the Pan Pacific Open semi-finals.



Second seed Sharapova, beaten by Serena Williams in the Australian Open semi-finals last week, was never seriously tested in a one-sided match on Tokyo's indoor carpet.



The 17-year-old repeatedly punished Likhovtseva's weak serve and closed out the match with a ferocious backhand pass after 64 minutes.



Sharapova will play Japan's Shinobu Asagoe...