Maria swans through rain row
Maria swans through rain row 
From Dave James in London
Former Australian Captain July 01, 2007
MARIA Sharapova was plunged into a Wimbledon rain row overnight, as torrential downpours meant that just two matches were completed and drenched fans saw only 75 minutes of action.
Russia’s pin-up defeated Japan veteran Ai Sugiyama 6-3 6-3 on court one, which was swamped by heavy rain as she served for a place in the last 16.
Sugiyama was furious with umpire Lynn Welch, claiming that the surface was too treacherous to continue.
“I’m very disappointed. I thought it was too wet to play because the conditions were not perfect,” said Sugiyama, a veteran of 15 Wimbledon campaigns.
“It’s tough to say whether it should have been called off. I couldn’t refuse to play and I didn’t want to give it away.”
Diplomatically, the 31-year-old refused to speculate on whether the tie would have been halted had Sharapova, 20, the 2004 champion and the poster girl of the sport, been the one facing match points.
Sharapova, dressed appropriately for the conditions in her Swan Lake-themed dress, insisted that the court was safe to play.
“It wasn’t that wet and the surface wasn’t that slippery. The umpire came down on to the court, felt the grass and said we should continue,” she said.
“But it was a tense time wondering if you might have to go off on match point.”
Sharapova will now face either former triple champion Venus Williams or Japan’s Akiko Morigami for a place in the quarter-finals.
The American won the first set 6-2 but was trailing 4-1 in the second set when heavy rain, which had already delayed the start of play by almost four hours on the outside courts, returned.
Play was eventually abandoned for the day with 14 of the scheduled third-round matches still to finish.
The only other women’s third round match to be completed in the brief dry window between the downpours saw defending champion Amelie Mauresmo, the No.4 seed from France, take just 57 minutes to dismantle the feeble challenge of Italy’s No.28 seed, Mara Santangelo, 6-1, 6-2.
Watched from the Royal Box by former West Indes captains Clive Lloyd and Brian Lara, who are familiar with wet English summers, Mauresmo was untroubled in her third round-match, which she wrapped up with an ace.
Worryingly for her rivals, the 26-year-old has dropped just 10 games in three matches at the 2007 championships.
Mauresmo, who goes on to face either the N0. 14 seed, CzechNicole Vaidisova or Victoria Azarenka, from Belarus, for a quarter-finals place, was delighted to have got on Centre Court.
“I was glad to get it finished and put this round behind me,” said Mauresmo.
Despite the torrential rain, Wimbledon organisers insist there are no plans to play on the middle Sunday, a contingency plan which has only been put into use three times in the tournament’s history.
The shortened programme meant that triple French Open champion Rafael Nadal and 2002 winner Lleyton Hewitt will have to return tomorrow night (AEST)to play their third-round ties.
Reuters