MARIA SHARAPOVA

You have to hand it Maria Sharapova, she is a real pro. She is only 18 years old, she had just lost her precious Wimbledon title - beaten by Venus Williams 7-6, 6-1 in the semi final - but she took it on the chin.

So, the gentle American voice asked, do you think Venus played so well because she wanted to avenge the defeat of her sister? That she was playing for family pride? Apparently not, not according to Maria Sharapova.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with family or anything like that,” she said, sounding much older than her years. “It was Venus out there. It wasn’t Serena. I just played against a really good opponent. You know, I thought we played a really good match. Today it went to the better person.”

That’s that, then. Maria Sharapova was over-powered, plain and simple. It is not that she did not try, it was just that she was second best on the day and put under pressure from the very start.

“I don’t think I played my best tennis,” she said. “But credit to her for not letting me play my best. She had a lot of deep balls - hard, deep balls. She was serving consistently big. On the contrary, I don’t think I was serving as big. But I don’t have as big a serve as her. I don’t think I had a really high percentage.

“I really try to do the best I can, you know, fight. I don’t know. When I came off the court, I knew the quality was good. But you also know that you lost the match, so it’s hard to think that way.” Maria Sharapova said.

So with the title taken from her and a heap of ranking points wiped from her tally (so ending any chance she had of claiming the world No. 1 ranking in the immediate future), what does Maria Sharapova do now? She had beaten Williams twice in the past, so what could she do to ensure that she never has to take such a hiding from the American again?

“I need to be stronger,” Maria Sharapova said. “The stronger I get, the bigger my serve will be, the easier it will be for me to maybe hold serve and get more free points. But at 18, I don’t think it’s possible to have a huge consistent serve, and I realise that and I accept it. I know with hard work and practice and repetition, it will get bigger and stronger and more accurate.”

At the age of 18, Maria Sharapova knows that she can get better. She is not half bad now, but there is more to come. Williams ought to enjoy her moment in the spotlight again because she is, at the moment, the best she can be. This is as good as it gets. And Maria Sharapova will be back. Can she see herself holding up the trophy again? “Oh, yeah,” she said. “I will do everything I can to make sure of it.” The rest of the locker room has been warned.

You knew there was going to be trouble when the crowd turned up with ear plugs. The semi-final collision of Venus Williams, champion of 2000 and 2001 and grunter par excellence; and Maria Sharapova, the champion of 2004 and a shrieker, groaner and screamer of the first rank, was always going to be a noisy affair.

It had been a difficult day all round. The rain moved in overnight, refused to go away and only let up for a couple of hours towards later afternoon. As everyone kicked their heels in the damp, the heavens finally relented around teatime allowing the clash to begin. Not that the clouds went away. They lurked ominously above, demanding that whatever the champions, past and present, did, they did quickly.

But celebrity cannot be hurried. As the natives became increasingly restless, the protagonists stayed firmly in the locker room. The crowd clapped, they whistled until finally, at 5.29pm, a heavily swathed Maria Sharapova strode on to Centre Court. Wearing sweat pants or, rather fashionably flared garments to cover the lower limbs (the much photographed Miss S would never wear anything as common as sweat pants), and a long sleeved top, she slowly unpeeled to wolf whistles and cheers. “Marry me Maria!” came a cry from an overexcited voice in the stands. Well, boys will be boys.

At 5.31pm the first ball was struck in the warm-up and Maria Sharapova was still secure in her position as Wimbledon champion. But it was not to last. She may have placed her chair to sit facing the Royal Box (the queen of Wimbledon would do, wouldn’t she) but she came second in the warm-up and no better in the match.

Williams, adopting her suburban housewife look with a huge sun visor (she, apparently, had not been reading the weather updates), windcheater and ponytail, meant business. For all that she faced two break points in the opening game, she was still pushing Maria Sharapova around, sending her scampering from corner to corner and after just two minutes of this effort, the Maria Sharapova shriek made its first appearance.

It was met by the Williams grunt, a throaty roar of aggression that can terrify the best. But not Maria Sharapova. Nothing frightens Maria. She may be beaten but she will concede defeat. Williams was bigger (by one inch), older (by seven years) and stronger (by 30lbs of muscle) but Maria Sharapova would not lie down. Playing some shots left-handed in a desperate attempt to get a racquet string on another Williams thunderbolt, she tried everything in her power to keep her hands on the trophy.

For the last four years Williams has been upstaged first by her sister and then by a host of younger women who have mopped up the titles that matter. She has not won a Grand Slam title since the US Open in 2001.

She got to plenty of finals, mind you, but every time she got there, she was walloped by her kid sister. Five times it happened. But now Serena is gone and for Venus it means that the title is there for the taking.

She has worked long and hard in the gym and on the practice courts - she might want to have a word with Serena about the benefits of hard graft - and slowly but surely this year, she has begun to look like the champion of old.

This is where it all started for Williams and this is the place she loves the best. The grass, for all the criticisms that it is slower than in days of yore, still adds sting and pep to her already ferocious shots. And with the wingspan of a small jetliner, she is impossible to pass at the net.

She has her sights set on the title and whoever her opponent is on Saturday, they have been marked down for no more than a supporting role. And at least it will be a good deal quieter than today.

Losing in the semi-finals of any contest has to be the one of the biggest sporting disappointments. So near and yet so far, that sort of thing. If you lose in the final at least you have been part of the grand occasion, but all a defeated semi-finalist has is the prize money. The consolation is that there is never long to wait before the next tournament comes along.

So who will go marching on to Saturday’s climax of the women’s singles event, and who will be laundering the grass stains off clothing and shoes until this time next year?

The seedings have stood up remarkably well, with the top three, Lindsay Davenport, Maria Sharapova and Amelie Mauresmo, filling their allotted places. They are joined by arguably the most distinguished 14th seed ever to get to Wimbledon’s last four, Venus Williams. Here is a two-time Wimbledon winner and two-time runner-up (all achieved in four consecutive years) fallen, however temporarily, on the sort of hard times that have driven her down the rankings.

It would not be unfair to say that the 29-year-old Davenport has surprised herself by the all-conquering manner in which she has sailed through a tournament she did not plan to take part in again after last year. Not having won a Grand Slam since the Australian Open of 2000, Lindsay’s thoughts were turning to the other things in life besides tennis, such as starting a family. Such thoughts were put on hold as she began to play like the Davenport of old and reclaimed the world No.1 spot. She is in her 75th non-consecutive week as top lady, a position she has held on six different occasions since 1998.

So Davenport is giving it the old gung-ho charge in pursuit of one, and maybe two or three, more Grand Slams to sit on the trophy shelf with the three she has already won, including Wimbledon in 1999. She came close in Australia six months ago, losing in the final to Serena Williams. Now the route to Saturday’s final is blocked by one hurdle, a barricade built by the No. 3 seed, Amelie Mauresmo.

Lindsay would be entitled to regard the barrier as more of a traffic hump, since she has won their last seven meetings without having conceded a set to the Frenchwoman. But this will be their first clash on grass and only their second in a Grand Slam, with Mauresmo having won at the Australian Open six years ago. That event in Melbourne was the closest Amelie has come to one of the major titles. She finished runner-up to Martina Hingis.

Even tennis fans who do not live in France consider it is about time Mauresmo claimed a Grand Slam. This is the third consecutive time she has marched into Wimbledon’s semi-finals. In this year’s tournament she has not yet dropped a set, conceding only 22 games. Davenport yielded a set to Kim Clijsters in the fourth round, otherwise her sets-against sheet is clean too.

Davenport and Mauresmo were the losing semi-finalists at The Championships a year ago. This time one of them will take the step that matters into Saturday’s final. If it is Davenport who comes through, the final could become what it so often has been in the past, an all-American beanfeast.

For that to happen, Venus Williams must do what she has not yet managed in two attempts, beat Maria Sharapova. The defending champion will not be awed by the prospect of tackling the older Williams, having swatted youngster sister Serena so brilliantly in last year’s final. When that happened, the Girl with the Golden Shoes was only 17. Now she has matured by one year and many ranking positions, while Venus, beset by injury and loss of form, has slipped out of the top five where she dwelled for so long.

Maria Sharapova conceded just seven games in each of her victories over Venus, gained indoors at Zurich last year and on the hard outdoor courts of Miami this spring. Neither has dropped a set in winning five rounds here, though neither would deny that at times their game has looked a mite rusty. But both possess that ability of a true champion, to lift themselves and their level of tennis when it matters.

This ability is what has pushed the Florida-based Russian teenager up the rankings ladder, where she is poised to take over from Davenport as No. 1. It will not happen this weekend, though, even if Maria Sharapova retains her title and Lindsay goes out in the semi-finals. Maria Sharapova’s inevitable, eventual ascent would make her the first Russian to top the women’s tennis world, but she would not be the youngest player to do so. Martina Hingis was 16, Monica Seles and Tracy Austin 17 and Steffi Graf a slightly younger 18-year-old. But none of them played in golden shoes.