Maria Sharapova becomes hot favourite to grab French Open crown – Tennis Special
Russian beauty, Maria Sharapova, has now the most chances of winning the French Open title after her success at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, Italy last week.
Sharapova plays her best tennis at the faster surfaces, as we can note from the the fact that most of her titles have come on the hard and grass courts.
The Russian has won all three Grand Slams other than the French Open, which is held on the slower red clay. She has also finished runner- up on three occasions and all of them were also on hard and grass courts.
However, Sharapova has proved with her recent success on clay courts that she can capture this year’s French Open title and complete her career Grand Slam. The Russian has now adapted quite well to the slower courts, changing her
technique to adjust her game.
The 25-year-old has been performing impressively from the start of this year’s clay court season, as she avenged her losses to Victoria Azarenka at the Australian Open and BNP Paribas Open final by defeating the reigning world
one in straight sets 6-1, 6-4 in the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix final in Stuttgart.
Sharapova was looking on course to winning successive titles, as she had advanced to last eight of the Mutua Madrid Open without losing even a single set but the Russian could not tackle Serena Williams, losing 1-6, 3-6 in the
quarter-finals.
On last Sunday, Sharapova fought back from a deficit of one set and saved a match point to topple the current French Open title holder, Li Na of China, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5(5) in the Internazionali BNL d’Italia final.
This was a revenge of Sharapova’s loss to Li in the French Open semi-final last year. The Russian was looking strong till the last four but was stunned by her Chinese opponent in straight sets 4-6, 5-7.
Giving an interview after Sunday’s final, Sharapova said, "It was a crazy match. Either one of us could have won it. There really is no loser. It was really difficult with so many swings. It was tough having to wait two hours.”
The right-hander, Sharapova, acknowledged that this victory over Li has given her a huge confidence boost ahead of the French Open.
She said, "This is a great win for me going into Roland Garros. I know the level she played there last year and the level she can play on clay - she's just a great player really.”
The Russian added, "So this win gives me a lot of confidence. It will be nice to have a week off now, after playing three tournaments in the last four weeks. I will have time to recover both mentally and physically."
One more thing which is going in Sharapova’s favour is that two of her closest rivals, Azarenka and Williams, have injury concerns at the eve of French Open. Both of them were forced to withdraw from their respective matches in
Rome due to medical problems.
Sharapova is aiming to become only the 10th player in the history of tennis to win all four Grand Slams.
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