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16/10/08 21:24 BST

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AUSTRALIAN OPEN WOMEN'S PROFILES

(5) Maria Sharapova
PRE-TOURNAMENT ODDS:	9/2
NATIONALITY:	RUS
BIRTH DATE:	19/04/87
BECAME PRO:	2002
WORLD RANKING:	5

VERDICT

2007 was an injury-hit season for blonde bombshell Sharapova. The problem affected her booming serve - such an important part of her game - and although she still managed to win plenty of matches, she often came up short against the game's true elite. The best example of that was her crushing loss to Serena Williams in the final here. Still, she finished the year strongly with some fine displays at the Tour Championships and started 2008 by reaching the final of the Hong Kong exhibition tournament. With a good record here she will go close but may come up just short.

TEN-YEAR GRAND SLAM HISTORY
	07	06	05	04	03	02	01	00	99	98
Australian Open	RU	SF	SF	3R	1R	-	-	-	-	-
French Open	SF	4R	QF	QF	1R	-	-	-	-	-
Wimbledon	4R	SF	SF	W	4R	-	-	-	-	-
US Open	3R	W	SF	3R	2R	-	-	-	-	-

Women's Profiles

(1) J Henin
(2) S Kuznetsova
(3) J Jankovic
(4) A Ivanovic
(5) M Sharapova
(6) A Chakvetadze
(7) S Williams
(8) V Williams
(9) D Hantuchova
(10) M Bartoli
(11) E Dementieva
(12) N Vaidisova
(13) T Golovin
(14) N Petrova
(15) P Schnyder
(16) D Safina
(17) S Peer
(18) A Mauresmo
(19) S Bammer
(20) A Szavay
(21) A Bondarenko
(22) L Safarova
(23) V Zvonareva
(24) Na Li
(25) F Schiavone
(26) V Azarenka
(27) M Kirilenko
(28) K Srebotnik
(29) A Radwanska
(30) V Razzano
(31) S Mirza
(32) J Vakulenko

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