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MADRID - World number two Maria Sharapova racked up her 18th win in a row with a clinical 6-4 6-4 victory over Kim Clijsters in the round robin stage of the season-ending WTA tennis championship today.
Sharapova, 19, who is competing with Justine Henin-Hardenne and Amelie Mauresmo for
the year-end number one spot, tops the red group after two straight sets victories and has one foot in the semifinals of a tournament she won in 2004.
Svetlana Kuznetsova, who is ranked four in the world, got off to a winning start with a 7-5 6-3 victory over fellow Russian Elena Dementieva and moves into second place in the red group.
Former world number one Clijsters made an impressive return to action after a two-month lay-off with a wrist injury by winning in Hasselt at the weekend, but there was little she could do to counter Sharapova's power play at the Madrid Arena.
Backed by her heavy serve and pin-point ground strokes, Sharapova kept Clijsters under pressure to take the opening set 6-4.
The teenager turned the screw to break once again in the fifth and seventh of the second set, but the Belgian, who won back-to-back WTA Championship titles in 2002 and 2003, refused to give up without a fight.
She broke back in the eighth and had two more break points in the 10th, but the determined Sharapova held firm and won through with an ace.
Although Clijsters was victorious in the first four clashes between the players, Sharapova has now won on their last two meetings.
Kuznetsova, who lost to Henin-Hardenne in the final of the French Open, condemned Dementieva to a second straight sets defeat despite not playing at her best.
"I should have shut the match out earlier as I had a lot of chances," she said. "I lost concentration a little at times, but I'm looking forward to improving my game for the next matches."
Dementieva is now almost certain to exit the tournament after losing to the in-form Sharapova in her opening match on Tuesday.
"I couldn't play my best here, but I've really enjoyed being here," said the 25-year-old, who is now bottom of the red group having failed to win a set in either of her two matches.
Martina Hingis, who won the championships in 1998 and 2000, will be looking to bounce back from her opening day defeat to Henin-Hardenne when she meets Nadia Petrova in Wednesday's late match.
The Russian was a straight sets winner over world number one and 2005 champion Mauresmo who looked rusty after returning to action following a 10-day lay-off with a shoulder injury.
- REUTERS