Maria Sharapova bids farewell to Kim Clijsters – Tennis News
World number three, Maria Sharapova, defeated the Belgian superstar, Kim Clijsters, to book a berth in the Olympics semi-finals at the Centre Courts of the All-England-Club on Friday.
Clijsters is retiring after the US Open in September and bid farewell to the Great Games without winning a medal. She suffered a loss in straight sets in the quarterfinals by 2-6, 5-7. Previously, Clijsters led the head-to-head
score by 6-4 against the Russian so it was expected that she would put up a startling show and possibly upset the Russian blonde but it went the other way round.
In a press conference with the media, Clijsters said, "It was great. It is a nice experience every time you go out on Centre Court so I am happy to say that my last match at Wimbledon was on Centre Court”.
Sharapova stated, “Kim is such a tough competitor. Obviously, she has won so many Grand Slams. She has endless experience. We've always had difficult matches.”
Despite of the 29-year-old’s ending career, she advanced in the Olympics tournament throughout without losing a set. Hence, this made the defeat at the hands of the Russian exasperating. She could not gauge Sharapova’s improved
strength and took a careless start of the match. She conceded a crucial double fault at the breakpoint and gifted the victory to the third seeded Russian.
The Russian beauty has a greater chance of winning a gold medal in women’s single category after this match. In the upcoming round, she will to face tough competition against fellow Russian, Maria Kirilenko.
The 14th seeded, Kirilenko showed remarkable performance and registered an upset against the sixth seed Czech, Petra Kvitova. Kirilenko is expected to put up a strong fight against Sharapova, considering her previous
meeting against her fellow compatriot at Indian Wells was almost resulted in a success before the Russian turned things around and won the match 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. The two fellow Russians certainly have a chance to bring home two medals from the Olympics and they
will deliver their best to achieve such glory for their nation.
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