THE ASSOCIATED PRESS INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Maria Sharapova made a tentative return from shoulder surgery Thursday, teaming with Elena Vesnina in a 6-2, 4-6, 10-7 loss to Ekaterina Makarova and Tatiana Poutchek in doubles play at the BNP Paribas Open. It was the first match in seven months for Sharapova, who was forced off the WTA Tour last August by a torn rotator cuff and underwent surgery on her right shoulder two months later. "It feels very good to be back," the 24-year-old Russian said. "I just wanted to test (the shoulder) out. I started training a couple of months ago. I just wanted to ... test it out in a match situation and get a little different scenery than the practice court and play in front of the crowd, so that was exciting. The main goal for here was just to get out there and be in that atmosphere again. "The hump I've got to get through right now is to put together two weeks of coming out to the court and playing two or three sets every day, and doing that for seven or eight days in a row. ... Right now I'm able to do maybe three days or four days and then I have to take it easy on the fifth." Sharapova was unsure where or when she would play again. "I'm done with setting a timetable for myself. Those days are over," she said. Earlier in the day, two-time tournament champion Lleyton Hewitt continued his own comeback from hip surgery by beating Jan Hernych 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the first round of the men's draw. Hewitt, once the top-ranked ATP Tour player in the world, won this event in 2002 and 2003 and lost to Roger Federer in the 2005 final. This year, however, the 28-year-old Australian is ranked No. 77 and still trying to regain his physical fitness after having surgery on his left hip last Aug. 16. "The ranking doesn't bother me at all," said Hewitt, who last year saw his streak of title-winning seasons end at 10 and finished out of the top 25 for the first time since his rookie season of 1998. "There's been a lot of travel the last few months and it hasn't been easy on the body," he said. "I wasn't sure what to expect out there (against Hernych). I knew when I decided to have it done that it was going to take quite some time to get as close as I'm going to get to 100 per cent." Hewitt advanced to a second-round meeting with 17th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez, who beat him in the opening round of this year's Australian Open. In other first round men's matches, Igor Kunitsyn beat American Vince Spadea in straight sets and Marc Gicquel ousted Simone Bolelli to set up a match with No. 2 seed Roger Federer. In women's first round play, Sania Mirza rallied from a first-set loss to beat Mariya Koryttseva, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, and 17-year-old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Marta Domachowska, 6-1, 6-3, to earn a second-round match against No. 2 seed Jelana Jankovic.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Sharapova returns to Tour with loss
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Maria Sharapova made a tentative return from shoulder surgery Thursday, teaming with Elena Vesnina in a 6-2, 4-6, 10-7 loss to Ekaterina Makarova and Tatiana Poutchek in doubles play at the BNP Paribas Open. It was the first match in seven months for Sharapova, who was forced off the WTA Tour last August by a torn rotator cuff and underwent surgery on her right shoulder two months later. "It feels very good to be back," the 24-year-old Russian said. "I just wanted to test (the shoulder) out. I started training a couple of months ago. I just wanted to ... test it out in a match situation and get a little different scenery than the practice court and play in front of the crowd, so that was exciting. The main goal for here was just to get out there and be in that atmosphere again. "The hump I've got to get through right now is to put together two weeks of coming out to the court and playing two or three sets every day, and doing that for seven or eight days in a row. ... Right now I'm able to do maybe three days or four days and then I have to take it easy on the fifth." Sharapova was unsure where or when she would play again. "I'm done with setting a timetable for myself. Those days are over," she said. Earlier in the day, two-time tournament champion Lleyton Hewitt continued his own comeback from hip surgery by beating Jan Hernych 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the first round of the men's draw. Hewitt, once the top-ranked ATP Tour player in the world, won this event in 2002 and 2003 and lost to Roger Federer in the 2005 final. This year, however, the 28-year-old Australian is ranked No. 77 and still trying to regain his physical fitness after having surgery on his left hip last Aug. 16. "The ranking doesn't bother me at all," said Hewitt, who last year saw his streak of title-winning seasons end at 10 and finished out of the top 25 for the first time since his rookie season of 1998. "There's been a lot of travel the last few months and it hasn't been easy on the body," he said. "I wasn't sure what to expect out there (against Hernych). I knew when I decided to have it done that it was going to take quite some time to get as close as I'm going to get to 100 per cent." Hewitt advanced to a second-round meeting with 17th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez, who beat him in the opening round of this year's Australian Open. In other first round men's matches, Igor Kunitsyn beat American Vince Spadea in straight sets and Marc Gicquel ousted Simone Bolelli to set up a match with No. 2 seed Roger Federer. In women's first round play, Sania Mirza rallied from a first-set loss to beat Mariya Koryttseva, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, and 17-year-old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Marta Domachowska, 6-1, 6-3, to earn a second-round match against No. 2 seed Jelana Jankovic.
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