2011 BNP Paribas Open: Maria Sharapova vs. Shuai Peng-- Quarter-Final Preview
Former world number one, Maria Sharapova of Russia will face Shuai Peng of China in the quarter-final of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California. An enthralling contest is expected to be seen as both contestants are currently
in good form.
World number 36 Peng defeated the 18th seed Nadia Petrova 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, in the fourth round to book a spot in the quarter-finals. Sharapova blew away compatriot, Dinara Safina 6-2, 6-0, in the round of 16 to meet Peng
in the quarter-final.
Both contestants have faced each other on two prior occasions, with one victory to each of them. Sharapova first met the Chinese way back in 2005 at Berlin, where she defeated Peng in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1 to qualify for the
quarter-final of the event. Their second meeting held after four years at Beijing Olympics where Peng avenged her defeat from Sharapova in front of her home crowd, winning the contest 6-2, 6-4. The head-to-head record of 1-1 for both players suggest that the
contest appears evenly poised but the former world number one is always proclaimed to be one of the toughest competitors in women’s tennis.
Winner of three Grand Slam titles and 22 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) titles, Sharapova is reckoned to be one of the most versatile female tennis players around. Her mighty forehand has always been a source of worry for her
opponents and the Russian had been unstoppable once she gets her eye into the game. Besides the extremely aggressive strategy Sharapova adopts in her matches, she has been quite generous on awarding unforced errors to her opponents. This can be the only weak
spot Peng can exploit and push the Russian hard to commit mistakes and lose her focus.
Sharapova has been in a decent form this year, as she qualified to the fourth round of the Australian Open by defeating Tamarine Tanasugarn, Virginie Razzano and Julia Goerges, before she got beaten by Andrea Petkovic in an error-ridden
contest. The Russian withdrew from the Open GDF Suez tournament in Paris. Sharapova has dominated her initial round matches, not allowing her opponents to win more than two games per set. Her confidence is sure to be on a higher note but the 23-year-old Russian
need immediate rectification on her unforced errors.
The 25-year-old Chinese is yet to bag a WTA title in her career and it seems a perfect chance for her to have a title shot at Indian Wells. Peng has been in good form this year as she featured in the quarter-final of the PTT Pattaya
Open, losing to Vera Zvonareva. She reached the quarter-finals of the Qatar Ladies Open as well, losing to Marion Bartoli of France. Peng is playing her third quarter-final of the year and hopes to go a step further this time.
Looking at Peng’s performance so far in the Paribas Open, it appears as if she has been losing her focus during her matches. The Chinese had dropped one set in all of her last three games and had to make a comeback in the decisive
set to achieve victory. Losing a set to the Russian in the quarter-final can be really destructive for her as it is never easy to bounce back against a strong and aggressive competitor like Sharapova. Whatever the result might be, one thing is for sure that
the tennis fans are going to have a mouth watering treat in the quarter-finals.
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