NEW YORK — That Maria Sharapova’s shaky serving contributed to her early exit at the U.S. Open — to the tune of a dozen double faults — came as no surprise. She’s faced that problem for quite some time.
That Sharapova’s other strokes also were problematic Friday could be explained away by the perpetual motion of her opponent in the third round, 26th-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy.
That three-time major champion Sharapova’s nerve would fail her in the crucible of a third set? Now that was the real stunner.
Unbeaten this year in 12 matches that went the distance, the third-seeded Sharapova faltered down the stretch and dropped the last seven points of a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 loss to Pennetta that took 2 1/2 hours.
“She’s a good fighter, you know. You can never give up with her. You have to be focused until the last game; until the last point, actually,” Pennetta said. “But I think (at) 5-4, she’s starting to feel a little bit of pressure.”
After trailing 3-0 and 4-1 in the last set, Sharapova turned things around briefly, getting to 4-all, 15-30 on Pennetta’s serve. But the 2006 U.S. Open champion wouldn’t win another point.
“I came back. I had chances. There’s no doubt I had chances,” Sharapova said. “But I guess today was the day I didn’t take them.”
Aside from all of those double faults — including two to begin the final game — Sharapova finished with 60 unforced errors.
“I didn’t feel comfortable with most of my game today,” Sharapova said.
Because of her Grand Slam pedigree and recent play, she was seen as someone who’d stick around deep into the second week at Flushing Meadows. Instead, Sharapova joined the reigning Wimbledon (Petra Kvitova) and French Open (Li Na) champions in leaving quickly, while two-time defending U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters didn’t enter because of injury.
The man most consider the best without a major championship, No. 4 Andy Murray, appeared on his way out, too, after losing the first two sets against 41st-ranked Robin Haase. But with Haase getting treated by a trainer for back problems between sets, Murray, a three-time Grand Slam finalist, came back to win 6-7 (5), 2-6, 6-2, 6-0, 6-4.
“I started chasing a lot of balls down,” Murray said of his comeback. “At the beginning, I felt sluggish, felt slow. I started forcing myself to get every single ball.”
In other matches:
• Rafael Nadal built a 6-2, 6-2 lead before Nicolas Mahut quit with an abdominal injury.
• Ninth-seeded Sam Stosur edged No. 24 Nadia Petrova 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 7-5 in a match that took 3 hours, 16 minutes — the longest women’s match in the tournament’s history.
• Andy Roddick ousted 18-year-old Jack Sock 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in a veteran vs. kid, American vs. American matchup.
