2011 French Open: Maria Sharapova conquers Mirjana Lucic in first round
Seventh seeded Russian diva Maria Sharapova destroyed Croat Mirjana Lucic in her first round match at the 2011 Roland Garros on Tuesday.
Coming from a title win at Rome, not two weeks ago, Sharapova carried her form into this event taking less than an hour to oust her opponent from the event.
Playing each other for the first time, Sharapova cruised to a straight set victory against the lower ranked Croat.
Opening serve in the first set, Lucic fought long hard to get onto the scoreboard surviving five deuces. The Russian diva on the other hand was quick to level the score losing no points in the process.
Holding their serves successfully, both players kept the score tied for six games. However, in the seventh game a deadly combination of a brutal winner from Sharapova and a clumsy error from the Croat allowed the Russian the coveted break she desired, going 4-3 in the set.
Sharapova repeated the feat in the ninth game to clinch the first set 6-3, going one up in the set score.
A marvellous display of tennis from the diva seemed to have dumbstruck her opponent, as Lucic failed to win any more games. Opening serve in the second set, Sharapova broke Lucic one after the other to lead 5-0 losing almost no points in the process.
Serving to stay in the set at 5-0, Sharapova closed the set at 6-0 securing her straight sets victory over the Croat.
Hitting one ace to Lucic’s three, Sharapova capitalised on the Croat’s 24 unforced errors as she soared towards her victory. Hitting a meagre 55% on first serve, the Russian recorded an almost perfect 94% win on it, winning a total of 56 points to Lucic’s 24.
Sharapova moves on ahead to play local wildcard entrant, Caroline Garcia.
Backed by the support of the crowd, Garcia raced to a 6-3, 6-4 victory against Czech Zuzana Ondraskova in her first round match here.
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