Maria Sharapova drives out Mallory Burdette to reach the fourth round – US Open 2012
Former world number one, Maria Sharapova, wasted little time in ousting the 21-year-old college player, Mallory Burdette, in the third round of the US Open Championship on the eve of Friday. She started off with a bang and continued
to hamper her opponent down; outsmarted her with just a double breadstick to her name. Sharapova won the match 6-1, 6-1.
In a post-match interview, Sharapova stated, “She came out, she has pretty huge ground strokes, and she likes to go for it. She's certainly somebody who could be dangerous if you give her the time to do what she likes to do. I
expected her to play a big, solid match - but overall I was able to play a pretty solid match today.”
The opening set witnessed a breezing start for the third ranked Russian who clinched a breakthrough in the first game and doubled the lead with a serve hold. It was not long before the 25-year-old Russian bagged another breakthrough
in the fifth game and mounted a gigantic lead of 4-1.
Sharapova held her serve to 40:15 and didn’t allow her opponent to settle and keep the set alive in the following game; stole the third breakpoint of the match and finished the opening set in quick succession. Trailing a set down,
Burdette never looked comfortable against the 6’2 tall Russian blonde.
The second set started off in emphatic fashion for the third seed Russian. She held her serve after a bit of scare and coupled it with a stunning cross court winner that earned her the first breakpoint of the second set. However,
the return was more entertaining to witness as her rival stepped up to the task to break serve back in the following game.
The Russian bagged two more breakpoints and ended the match within less than an hour.
Sharapova commented about her upcoming rival, “She's been playing really good tennis here - I just saw a little bit of her match against Safarova. She's someone who likes the faster courts, especially in New York, and I've had
some tough matches against her.”
Nadia Petrova will be the next opponent for Maria Sharapova.
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