Anxious parents steal the show on sidelines as Sharapova foils Chakvetadze

WATCHING a tight women's Australian Open quarter-final ought to be gripping enough, but witnessing the animated antics of the combatants' fathers proved more entertaining.

The tennis was scrappy, the performances edgy as top seed Maria Sharapova slugged out a 7-6, 7-5 victory over fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze for a place in the Melbourne Park semi-finals. But a close study of the guest boxes proved more fulfilling, as their respective father-coach-mentors lived through every emotion during a seesaw battle.

"I mean it's normal, I've been with my dad every single day. I'm sure Anna has as well," said Sharapova, who was due to play Kim Clijsters in the semi-final overnight. "They both want you to win, they're both very excited over the opportunities you have."

Both parents started the match with anxious, uneasy faces as if their daughters were preparing for the opening night of an ambitious school play.

Chakvetadze's silver-haired father Djambuli grimaced and winced with every error, roared with approval at every winner and pulled his baseball cap over his eyes when an easy put-away for his 19-year-old daughter went begging.

Yuri Sharapov, the 19-year-old Maria's combustible father, was even more emotive, punching his fist with delight at each advantage eked out and shaking his fist in frustration every time the top seed failed to meet expectation.

The parents' involvement reached a hiatus in game seven of a tense second set when Yuri - no stranger to the wrath of umpires - incurred his daughter a code violation for coaching.

Sharapova, who was trailing 0-30 at the time, went to chair umpire Mariana Alves to clarify the warning, only to return to the service line and blast two service winners.

"I asked the umpire if it was in between those points. I didn't see anything, I didn't even look at him," said Sharapova.

Yuri has previous form, though. His gestures caught the umpire's eye this time, but his interference was as nothing compared to his antics at the US Open last year. Cameras at Flushing Meadows captured him comically grabbing a cup, then Maria would take a drink; when he ate a banana, she would do likewise. It was coaching from the Punch and Judy manual.

Potential Fed Cup colleagues of Sharapova have been wary of a call-up for the soon-to-be confirmed world No 1, former French Open champion Anastasia Myskina threatening to quit the team in the past should the Muscovite and her father be involved.

Knowing that performances in the Fed Cup are key to Olympic selection, Maria has more than one eye on Beijing when she prepares to make her team debut, if selected, against Spain in Moscow in April.

Sharapova, as well as Russian captain Shamil Tarpischev, will be hoping father Yuri can keep his emotions in check then.

Clijsters delayed writing the final chapter in her Australian Open memoirs by battling past Martina Hingis 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals.

The Belgian fourth seed, playing at Melbourne Park for the last time before retiring at the end of the season, looked to be inching towards the exit before she dug her heels in to secure a meeting with Sharapova. "I'm still asking myself [how I got through]. The only thing I did well was that I fought and I tried," Clijsters said. "I wasn't really seeing the ball. The only thing you can do is fight and hope you can turn things around and I did."

Hingis added: "I definitely had the best chances to beat her. It was definitely the most disappointing loss I've had against her."

Clijsters started the match with a double fault, peppered a few more in between and then surrendered the first set with another. She hit wild backhands, and mis-timed dropshots, flying forehands and awkward volleys as she barely resembled a player who had been installed as the title favourite.

"You just have to keep fighting out there and luckily for me I did," said Clijsters.