Maria Sharapova, seeded third at the U.S. Open, looking for her second title here and considered a favorite to play Serena Williams in the finals after she won a major hard court title in Cincinnati in preparation for New York, committed 60 unforced errors and had 12 double faults Friday and was upset 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 by 26th-seeded Flavia Pennetta on Friday at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The third-round match lasted 2 hours, 29 minutes and two of Sharapova's double faults came in the final game of the match when the 24-year-old Russian needed to hold serve to stay alive. But she was quickly down 0-30 and tears seemed to cloud her eyes at that point.
Sharapova had fought back from a 3-0 deficit in the third set and when she evened the match at 4-4 with a huge backhand winner the crowd exploded, making almost as much noise as Sharapova often did as shrieked louder and louder with the effort she needed to stay close to the 29-year-old Italian Pennetta.
Pennetta has never gone further in a Grand Slam tournament than the quarterfinals, which she did here in 2008 and 2009.
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-- Diane Pucin, reporting from New York
Photo: Maria Sharapova. Credit: Lucy Nicholson / Reuters.
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