Sharapova Puts No. 1 on Run

She was safely ensconced in the semifinals, already having won her first two matches in round-robin play, so really there were two viable options for Lindsay Davenport.

No. 1: Chase down a few balls, hit some winners, but don’t worry about needing to floor the gas pedal if things got tough and just get back to the hotel at an early hour.

No. 2: Scramble out of the tightest of corners, come within two points of losing the match in the second set and stay out on the court for two-plus hours Thursday night.

Davenport propped open Door No. 2.

One problem: All the heavy lifting went for naught as Maria Sharapova slammed the door shut.

The 18-year-old Russian survived her inability to serve for the match in the second set, fought off a break point early in the third, defeating the top-ranked Davenport, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, in the season-ending WTA Tour Championships at Staples Center in 2 hours 8 minutes.

Sharapova won it on her third match point, hitting an ace in front of an announced crowd of 6,111.

“Oh, it was tough, but I’m so excited to win,” Sharapova said in her on-court TV interview. “It’s been a tough end of the year, but to be able to close it out after having a letdown in the second.... She played some great points. I haven’t been in that situation in a while.”

It put the defending champion Sharapova in Saturday’s semifinals. She has lost only once at this venue in two years, last year in pool play against Amelie Mauresmo of France.

After a slow start in which Davenport struggled mightily with her serve, the match steadily picked up momentum. It was quite a difference from their last match, which Davenport won, 6-0, 6-0, at Indian Wells this year. However, Davenport joked that that meeting seemed “decades” ago.

The decisive service break came in the fifth game of the third set. Davenport was broken at 30 when Sharapova fired a forehand cross-court winner. Sharapova had survived a break point in the previous game, surviving when Davenport netted a forehand.

Sharapova had 13 aces, and 31 unforced errors. Davenport too struggled with unforced errors (31), hitting nine double faults, though she had 36 winners.

Sharapova’s victory sealed the fate of Patty Schnyder of Switzerland.

The first player eliminated from the eight-player singles field was Schnyder. Though Schnyder won her final round-robin match, beating Nadia Petrova of Russia, 6-0, 5-7, 6-4, in 1 hour 51 minutes, she was eliminated once Sharapova won the first set against Davenport. Petrova, 0-2, also failed to make the semifinals.

Still, it represented something of a milestone for the Swiss player. This was the first time she has won a match at the Championships in three trips, and the realization that she could do so played games with her psyche.

“I got too nervous,” Schnyder said. “I couldn’t play anymore. And in the third set, I could stay calm and maybe was so lucky to hold my serve the first few games to get my confidence back and hit some winners and serve well.”

Belgian Kim Clijsters’ bid to supplant Davenport as the year-end No. 1 ended after midnight when Amelie Mauresmo of France defeated Elena Dementieva of Russia, 6-2, 6-3. Mauresmo’s victory meant Clijsters, who is 0-2, had no shot at reaching the semifinals.

“It is great,” said Davenport, who also finished the year ranked No. 1 on three other occasions.

“It is really, really a bizarre feeling to put your fate in other people’s hands, so to speak.”

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At a glance

From the WTA Championships at Staples Center:

THURSDAY’S RESULTS

* Patty Schnyder, Switzerland, def. Nadia Petrova, Russia, 6-0, 5-7, 6-4.

* Maria Sharapova, Russia, def. Lindsay Davenport, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

* Amelie Mauresmo, France, def. Elena Dementieva, Russia, 6-2, 6-3.

TODAY’S MATCHES

Starting at 6:30 p.m.

* Amelie Mauresmo, France, vs. Mary Pierce, France.

Not before 8 p.m.

* Maria Sharapova, Russia, vs. Nadia Petrova, Russia; Kim Clijsters, Belgium, vs. Elena Dementieva, Russia.