Sportmaster International

Indian Wells, California - Svetlana Kuznetsova slammed the door on Maria Sharapova’s undefeated season, setting up a final with Ana Ivanovic at the Indian Wells Masters on Friday.

Maria Sharapova of Russia wipes her face after losing a point against Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia during the Pacific Life Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, USA 21 March 2008. Kuznetsova defeated Sharapova 6-3, 5-7, 6-2. EPA/PAUL BUCK’I'm human, I’m allowed to make a few mistakes

in my life and in my career,’ said three-time Grand Slam winner Sharapova, after going down 6-3, 5-7, 6-2. ‘That kind of was the story today.’ The semi-final defeat in well over two hours ended the golden run of the Russian, who won titles at the Australian Open and Doha and had claimed her last 18 matches. Sharapova fought to level the sets after dropping the first, but was run down by the second seed in the second. ‘I was playing with a much slower pace than normal,’ she said. ‘I wasn’t going for my shots and I wasn’t seeing the ball that good.’ Kuznetsova, 2007 runner-up to Daniele Hantuchova, stands 2-4 against Ivanovic, who is bidding for a sixth career title. ‘She plays well, she serves well, she’s improved so much her movement on the court. It’s going to be a tough match, and definitely because I lost last time,’ Kuznetsova said. ‘But I’ve taken few revenges already here - hopefully one more.’ World number two Ivanovic cannot advance into the top ranking spot held Justine Henin no matter what the result of the Sunday final. ‘Coming into this tournament, I felt a little more pressure being top seed, but I just try to not think about it. I know I have a game to beat anyone if I play well and if I do what I supposed to do out there,’ Serbia’s Ivanovic said. On the men’s side, American Mardy Fish lined up a semi-final against top seed Roger Federer with an upset of David Nalbandian 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-4). Fish, ranked 98th, produced the second-best showing of his chequered career at the Masters level after a 2003 final at Cincinnati. ‘This week before this match was my third quarterfinal in six tournaments, so it’s a pretty good start for me, pretty good start for anybody,’ said the winner. Federer advanced without firing a shot earlier as German Tommy Haas withdrew for the second time in less than nine months from a match against the Swiss player, pulling from their quarter-final with a sinus illness. ‘I was playing my best tennis of the season and looking forward to playing Roger this afternoon,’ said the 29-year-old Haas, who has made a strong recovery from November shoulder surgery. Haas, a former world number two who now stands 36th, earlier quit before a Wimbledon fourth round against Federer with an abdominal muscle tear, which sidelined him for a month last summer. ‘I’m very sorry for Tommy,’ said Federer in a statement. ‘I was looking forward to another great match with him. I hope he gets better quickly.’ Federer leads the series 8-2, winning the last seven and last losing in January 2002 at the Australian Open. Fish started to look out of his depth in the final set against Argentine Nalbandian, the second top 10 seed he has faced this week in the desert. After missing on a pair of match points in the 10th game, the 26- year-old American got a second chance in the final-set tiebreaker, when a forehand error from Nalbandian yielded two more match-winners for Fish. The crowd-favourite underdog clinched the win to face Federer, winner of all five of their previous matches. ‘I obviously don’t feel like I’m the 98th ranked player in the world or playing like that,’ said Fish. ‘I’ve got a lot of self confidence. ‘You have to out here to stick with some of these guys. But this is just one tournament. Hopefully I can use this result no matter how it ends, to keep moving on.’