Tennis: Upstarts upstaged at grasscourt slam

7.15am

LONDON - Wimbledon's teenage upstarts were upstaged by the stolid establishment of women's tennis today as the old guard stamped their mark on the championships.

Titleholder and top seed Serena Williams and fellow former world No 1 Lindsay Davenport both swatted teenagers aside while Jennifer Capriati stomped on young Russian Nadia Petrova.

Siberian sensation Maria Sharapova, 17, bucked the trend, beating Japanese 11th seed Ai Sugiyama 5-7 7-5 6-1 to reach the semifinals of a grand slam for the first time.

"This moment ... I am speechless, really ... I always wanted to play on centre court but never thought about reaching the semifinals," said the 13th seed, left out of the Russian Fed Cup team earlier today.

She will face 1999 champion and fifth seed Davenport in the last four after the American, 28, thrashed Croatian teenager Karolina Sprem 6-2 6-2.

Rain delays earlier in the tournament meant the top half of the draw were a round behind, playing to reach the quarterfinals, and Serena meted out the most one-sided scoreline of the day.

The two-time champion flattened France's Tatiana Golovin, 16, 6-2 6-1 to reach the last eight.

Serena pummelled the fastest serve ever by a woman at Wimbledon -- a 202.8km/h scorcher -- and gave Golovin the runaround from the start.

But she still felt she could have done better.

"I really didn't think I played well today," she said.

"I thought I didn't do some things that I wanted to do, so ... I don't know. I guess I can't complain too much, huh?"

Golovin claimed she had been neither overawed nor overpowered and that next time she would beat Serena, although how much of that can be put down to teenaged bravado is debatable.

"I thought I was going to be a little bit more nervous than I was, but I felt really good out there," she said.

"I played well. Playing Serena ... of course, beating her for the first time, would be really amazing. But I'll do it next time. I'm getting used to the big courts."

However, it will take more than a familiarity with the world's showcourts to enable Golovin to beat Serena.

Someone with a much better chance of wrestling Serena's crown from her is Capriati, the fellow American who beat her in the quarterfinals of the French Open last month and who plays her in the quarterfinals here next.

Capriati swatted aside Russia's 10th seed Nadia Petrova 6-4 6-4 in the fourth round.

"First, I served well and returned well enough, just solid," she said.

"I just played solid. You know, I just tried to keep the balls long, deep. And then also I did mix it up.

"I think I just hung in there pretty good and did everything just a little bit better and really was just more solid out there."

Also in the top half French fourth seed Amelie Mauresmo moved into the quarterfinals, outfoxing Italy's Silvia Farina Elia 7-5 6-3.

She will face Paola Suarez next after the Argentine beat Italy's Rita Grande.

Results of women's singles matches today (prefix denotes seeding):

Quarterfinals:

13-Maria Sharapova (Russia) bt 11-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 5-7 7-5 6-1

5-Lindsay Davenport (US) bt Karolina Sprem (Croatia) 6-2 6-2

Fourth round:

7-Jennifer Capriati (US) bt 10-Nadia Petrova (Russia) 6-4 6-4

1-Serena Williams (US) bt Tatiana Golovin (France) 6-2 6-1

9-Paola Suarez (Argentina) bt Rita Grande (Italy) 4-6 6-0 6-2

4-Amelie Mauresmo (France) bt 14-Silvia Farina Elia (Italy) 7-5 6-3

- REUTERS