June 13, 2004 Sharapova Wins First Grass Court Title BIRMINGHAM, England - In the third youngest final of the Open Era, Maria Sharapova prevailed victorious for the third career title on Sunday at the DFS Classic in Birmingham. Sharapova improved to 3-0 in WTA Tour finals by defeating France's Tatiana Golovin, 46 62 61 for her first title of the year. Despite dropping the first set, Sharapova remained poised and recovered to win the match in 1 hour, 44 minutes. "In the first set she did everything right, she was just too good," said Sharapova. "I was just lucky she couldn't do it the whole match. I just hung in there and played my game and in the end that was good enough." With a combined age of 33 years and 6 months, Sharapova (17 years, 1 month) and Golovin (16 years, 4 months) represented one of the youngest matchups in a championship match since the Open Era. The only finals where a combined age was less than that came back in 1991 at San Diego where Jennifer Capriati (15 years, 4 months) defeated Monica Seles (17 years, 8 months) and in 1980 Tampa when Andrea Jaeger (15 years, 5 months) defeated Tracy Austin (17 years, 11 months). Sharapova dropped just two sets during her week in Birmingham, defeating Jamea Jackson and qualifier Samantha Stosur, along with No.8 seed Alicia Molik in straight sets. She dropped her first set of the week against No.2 seed Patty Schnyder, losing a second set tiebreak before recovering for the three set victory. "I love playing on grass and to win my first ever grass court title here is a huge thing for me," Sharapova said. "This tournament holds so many memories, so it feels so good." The Russian teenager now adds the Birmingham title to the Tokyo [Japan Open] and Quebec City titles she won last year. She has a 23-8 record on the season and should improve on the career-best No.15 ranking she recently acquired after her performance at Roland Garros. She will now have a grass court title under her belt as she makes her way to Wimbledon, where she reached the fourth round last year. "This is the best possible preparation for Wimbledon, the best you can get," Sharapova said. "I’ve had some tough wins here and winning a title always gives you the confidence to think that you can win more. I always believe I can win the title when I enter an event." Despite falling a bit short of her first WTA Tour title, Golovin had an impressive week to reach her first final. She got a pair of breaks in her first two matches when Elena Likhovtseva and Daniela Hantuchova each retired in the second set due to injuries, even though Golovin contained sizable leads in each of those matches. She then defeated Shinobu Asagoe and Anne Kremer to reach her second semifinal of her career and defeated No.9 seed Emilie Loit in three sets to reach the final. After making her big breakthough by reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open, Golovin has shown the Tour can expect great things from the French teenager. She has now compiled a 19-8 record on the year. "I had a great week here," Golovin said. "I’m so thrilled at how I played all week long and the welcome I received in Birmingham. Maria was just too good today, but I’m sure I’ll get revenge next time." Sharapova made it a clean sweep during her week in Birmingham, after she also teamed by with fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko to defeat the pairing of Lisa McShea and Milagros Sequera, 62 61. It was the third doubles title of Sharapova's career and the first for Kirilenko in only their third event as a team. Much like the pair in the singles final, the winning doubles team also featured a teenage tandem. Sharapova and Kirilenko had a combined age of 34 years, five months. Kirilenko celebrated her 17th birthday just three months before Sharapova. "Today just gets better. It makes the perfect end to an unbelievable week for me," said Sharapova of winning her second title of the day. The team of McShea and Sequera were looking for their third title of the season but fell short in their grass court debut. The duo had previous success this year on the red clay, winning titles at Acapulco and Strasbourg. --

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