Maria Sharapova escapes scare against Heather Watson in opening round – US Open 2011
Former world number one, Maria Sharapova of Russia, escaped an early scare in the opening round of the US Open but eventually hung in the game to defeat the unseeded British competitor, Heather Watson, on Monday.
Third seeded Sharapova finished off the contest in three sets, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, playing on the hard courts of the Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park, of Queens, New York
City, United States.
The 19-year-old Briton, who won the junior title two years back, hung in the contest for two hours and thirty four minutes to tantalise the former US Open champion, Sharapova, but eventually succumbed in the third set to let the
Russian in the second round of the Grand Slam tournament.
Although Sharapova registered victory in the end, her performance being a world number four player was not convincing at all. She was absolutely blown away by the British teenager in the opening set, suffering two serve breaks
from Watson, but manoeuvred her way back in the game in the later parts. She took the second set with a little struggle and then cruised through the final set to conclude a hard-fought victory in the end.
“I knew that I wasn’t playing my best tennis,” Sharapova told in her post match reviews. “The best thing about this match is I gave myself a chance to play another one.”
The third seeded Russian alarmingly coughed a total of 58 unforced errors, including eight double faults in the matchup, while Watson remained reasonable with 30 mistakes in the contest. Sharapova converted six of his 16 break
opportunities in the game and suffered five out of five break point conversions from the British teenager.
The Russian was off to a sluggish start in the opener and suffered two serve breaks right away to drop the set at 3-6. Sharapova gradually gathered up pace in the second set and kept the score board ticking on even terms, exchanging
two serve breaks with Watson to take the scores to 5-5. A critical serve break in the 12th game closed out the second set in favour of the Russian at 7-5 and Sharapova kept her winning momentum in the contest to finish off the matchup at 6-3.
Up next for Sharapova in the second round of the US Open is the unseeded Belarusian, Anastasiya Yakimova, for a place in the third round.
Tags: