Maria Sharapova blasts past Venus Williams in the third round clash – Australian Open 2013
Crowd at the glorious Rod Laver Arena witnessed a cracking display of sheer dominance from the slender-legged Russian blonde, Maria Sharapova, in the third round battle of the Australian Open. The reigning world number two absolutely
hammered the 25th seed former champion, Venus Williams, to enter the pre-quarter-final rounds of the Grand Slam Down Under. Sharapova registered a thumping victory in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3, taking barely 80 minutes of play.
An intense contest was anticipated between these two former top ranked contestants but it proved to be an all-Russian affair. Sharapova was aggressive as ever and launched an all-round onslaught upon Venus right from the beginning.
Her mighty forehand worked exquisitely for her throughout the contest and she fired 17 winners en route to victory. The Russian beauty queen dropped her serve merely once in the entire contest, while registering five out of 13 break points. Venus’ 26 unforced
errors and below par first serve proved extremely taxing for her in the contest and she fell out of the mega even in a dismal manner.
Sharapova was off to a flyer in the opening set, nailing two successive serve breaks to rocket away to 4-0 lead in no time. By the time Venus got her eye set in the match, Sharapova was riding an unassailable lead of 5-1. The second
seed Russian stung her third break point of the day in the seventh game and wrapped up the set with a breadstick at 6-1.
The following set ignited in the similar manner as the opener did, with Sharapova breaking early and attaining a 3-0 lead. Her fifth break point conversion of the day left the Russian hot favourite serving for the match at 5-1.
However, Venus made her desperate attempt to make her way back in the contest and broke the Russian serve for the first time in the match, curtailing her opponent’s lead to 3-5. Sharapova Held her remaining serves in the match and banged a thudding ace in
the ninth game to finish off the proceedings at 6-3.
Sharapova will take on the unseeded Belgian, Kirsten Flipkens, in her next encounter for a place in the quarter-final draw of the Australian Open Grand Slam championships.
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