Maria Sharapova cruises into the third round of Internazionali BNL d’Italia
Seventh seeded Russian Maria Sharapova slaughtered her countrywoman Ekaterina Makarova with double breadsticks to advance into the third round of the 2011 Internazionali BNL D’Italia on Tuesday.
Former world number one Sharapova is in good shape this season and recently reached the final at Miami before losing to eight seeded Belarusian Victoria Azarenka in the final. After exiting from third round of the Madrid Open she
entered this WTA Premier 5 event confidently and after slaying her compatriot with double breadsticks in fifty-four minutes, she cruised into the third round at Foro Italico.
After winning against Makarova in three sets two weeks ago, she overcame her weaknesses and clinched the match with a 6-1, 6-1 score line to extend her lead in their head-to-head series to 2-0.
Ranked at 8th in the WTA Premier rankings, Sharapova stormed into the opening set and broke Makarova’s serve in the very first game. After 22-year-old Makarova held her serve in the third game, she unleashed her flurry
of ground strokes and reeled off next four games in a row to clinch in twenty-seven minutes with an awesome 6-1 score line.
The higher ranked Russian carried her winning momentum into the final set and held her serve in the first game. After the scores were level at 1-1, Sharapova went on savage mode and won next five games in a row through her massive
forehands.
"I kind of let her back into the match in Madrid - I wanted to get the job done faster today," Sharapova said. "Last week I played three sets in the first two rounds and it's something I really wanted to change here. Now I'm trying
to keep the energy up and do the right things and not have any letdowns again."
Sharapova produced a higher first serve share of 79% as compared to Makarova’s 43 percent and registered an impressive 73 percent win on it. "I was aware my serve was working really well today," the 24-year-old said. "It's tough
to get service winners on such a slow surface, so placement is very important. I'm working on it and it can only get better."
Sharapova hammered nineteen winners in the match and capitalised on her countrywoman’s errors. She is now eyeing for her first title of the season.
Up next for her is the winner of the match between tenth seeded Israeli Shahar Peer and Russian Alisa Kleybanova.
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