Maria Sharapova can replace Victoria Azarenka at the end of Summer Olympics 2012 – Tennis News
World number three, Maria Sharapova, will surely clasp on to the silver medal (if not gold) at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics Tennis Event on Saturday.
She ousted her fellow compatriot, Maria Kirilenko, on the eve of Friday to book a berth in the final showdown with the fourth seed American superstar, Serena Williams, who is the hot favourite to win her first singles gold medal at London.
However, the Russian superstar can acquire double glory at Olympics, if the reigning world number one, Victoria Azarenka, suffers another shocking upset at the hands of the 14th seed Russian, Maria Kirilenko, at London on the eve of Saturday. Both these players will lock horns for a bronze medal competition and the winner will earn 340 points along with a medal as well.
At the moment, Sharapova is just 430 points behind the 23-year-old Belarusian. However, she is confirmed to take home at least 450 points even if she fails to win her contest against the 30-year-old American in the final. So, that will take her clear on the top with 20 points unless the Belarusian manages to clinch a bronze medal and elongate her lead further to 770 points on the top.
Azarenka winning the match on Saturday will seal the number one spot for her in the new edition of rankings list being issued by the Women Tennis Association on Monday. However, her loss will deteriorate her rank to world number two and reinstate the Russian blonde as world number one.
The winner of the gold medal takes homes 750 points and the Russian will just be short of 20 points from the top if she wins gold and Azarenka manages to beat Kirilenko. It all depends on the result of the bronze medal contest that will kick off at the Centre Court of the All England Lawn Tennis Club on Saturday.
Sharapova will be having her fingers crossed and drafting a plan for Kirilenko to gun down the red-hot Azarenka who will start as the match-favourite. Kirilenko’s triumph will help her compatriot to be the world number one again and that will be sweet moment for any tennis fanatic.
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