Sharapova ousted from U.S. Open

For two hours and 29 minutes Friday afternoon, third-seeded Maria Sharapova made Arthur Ashe Stadium sound like a torture chamber with her bloodcurdling wails on every serve and high-volume grunts on every groundstroke that let you know how much each one was taking out of her. She was trying to outfight 26th-seeded Flavia Pennetta, but 60 unforced errors, including two of her 12 double faults in the match-deciding game, ultimately left Sharapova the victim of self-inflicted pain.

The 2006 U.S. Open champion was 12-0 this year in three-set matches, but she fell behind 4-1 after losing her serve in the second game of the final set. She fought back to even the set at 4, but Pennetta held serve and then broke Sharapova at love to win the match, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, and advance to the fourth round to meet 13th seed Peng Shuai.

The theatrics finally ended with a forehand pass by Pennetta, and the 29-year-old Italian told the crowd in the on-court interview: "This is the best victory of my career. In the last set, I was really nervous. At 4-1, I started to shake a little bit."

That's understandable. Pennetta's best result in a Grand Slam came in 2008-09 when she reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals. Sharapova is a three-time major champ who was close to regaining that level before losing the Wimbledon final two months ago. Her last Grand Slam title was the 2008 Australian Open.

Sharapova went down a break in the second game of the final set, losing the fourth break point of the game. "In the first three or four games, every game I had a chance to win, whether it was a break point or a game point on my serve, and I didn't win those games . . . I came back. I had chances, but I didn't take them."

"When you're in the third set and you get a 75-miles-per-hour second serve and you get an error, not only are you giving your opponent a lot of confidence, but you're also having extra unforced errors . . . That cost me the match."

If nothing else, Sharapova gave the fans their money's worth. Breaking Pennetta in the seventh game to pull within 4-3, Sharapova gave a fist pump and triumphant shout after one long Pennetta forehand. When another Pennetta forehand went long in the next game to even the set at 4, Sharapova again cheered her opponent's error.

If Sharapova had been playing the Red Sox, they might have hit her with a pitch, but Pennetta was unfazed. "It's just the way she plays," Pennetta said. "Some people just breathe, some people screaming. You don't think too much about what she do. You just think to your game, and you don't feel nothing, you don't see nothing."

After holding serve to go up 5-4 in the third, Pennetta could see Sharapova was feeling plenty of pressure. Asked about Sharapova's double fault to begin the deciding game, Pennetta cut off the question. "I was happy," she exulted to the sound of much laughter. It was her turn to celebrate.