Maria Sharapova defeats Shuai Peng in the quarter-final of the BNP Paribas Open
World number 18 Maria Sharapova of Russia won her battle against the 36 ranked Chinese, Shuai Peng, in the quarter-final of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California on Thursday night. Sharapova strained hard to beat her
competitor in a three-set thriller, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, taking two hours and twenty two minutes to qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament.
The 16th seed Russian had a brilliant start to the contest but after dropping the second set, she recovered with great mastery to bounce back in the game. Her serve game was also far below her standards, delivering just
61 per cent accuracy and spilling out 13 double faults. Despite of such ordinary serve statistics and collecting a mere 27 per cent second serve points, Sharapova still managed to overcome her opponent in the decisive third set to seal victory for herself.
“I played well in the first set and a half and then my level dropped,” said Sharapova in her post match reviews, “It was important to stay tough out there because you know the match isn't over until the last point.”
Sharapova ignited the opening set with her typical aggression, hitting some elegant winners down the line and bagging 15 out of 19 first serve points in the set. She took an early break to lead 4-2 and took the opener to her name
with another break point at 6-2. The Russian coughed four double faults in the opener but they didn’t cost her much.
Peng made a terrific comeback in the second set as the Russian dropped her first serve percentage to 52 and committed seven costly double faults. The Chinese fully capitalized upon the mistakes of Sharapova and stung two serve
breaks to reach 6-5 in the second set. Sharapova also clinched two break points but her shot accuracy poorly failed in the set to lead her down. She kept committing unforced errors, hitting some errant shots, ending long and wide off the court and giving ample
opportunities to her opponent to take the better of her.
Although Peng secured just 10 out of 21 first serve points in the second set, her third serve break towards the end proved sufficient for her. The Chinese closed the second set at 7-5 and levelled the contest with one set a piece.
Tide turned in the decisive set once again as Sharapova found her spark to bounce back in to the game. Her first serve percentage was reasonable in the third set but the Russian collected 30 out of 55 total points played.
Sharapova was broken in her opening two serve games of the third set, but she did the same to level the scores at 3-3. She held her serve for the first time in the sixth game and cracked a crucial serve break in the next game to
serve for the match at 5-3. Sharapova served out of the contest comprehensively at 6-3, to register her sixth win of the year and make it to the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open.
The Russian will next be squaring off against the world number one, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the semi-final at Indian Wells. Wozniacki reached the semi-finals when Victoria Azarenka forfieted from the quarter-final due
to injury.
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