Maria Sharapova faces tough path through French Open
Maria Sharapova has signalled a return to form with victory at the Internationaux de Strasbourg on the eve of the French Open, now the glamorous Russian needs to prove she can again deliver the goods at the Grand Slam.
Sharapova recorded a 7-5, 6-1 victory over world No. 77 Kristina Barrois in the final at Strasbourg to claim just the second clay court title of her career, and showed some positive signs just in time for Roland Garros in her second tournament back after two month’s out of the game to recover from an elbow injury.
It’s also Sharapova’s second title of 2010, the first coming at the Cellular South Cup in Memphis in February, shortly before the 23-year-old was forced onto the sidelines with elbow troubles.
While the Memphis title, Sharapova’s second since undergoing shoulder surgery in October 2008, and Strasbourg both offer cause to hope the triple Grand Slam champion’s power game may be gearing up to once again take her all the way to a title at a major, there’s also a very good reason to take both tournament victories with a pinch of salt.
The fact is, that on her way to the title at Strasbourg, world No. 49 Anabel Medina Garrigues (Sharapova’s semi-final opponent) was the highest ranked player Sharapova faced at the tournament.
Sharapova was a similarly big fish in a small pond at Memphis earlier in the year, where she defeated then 102nd ranked Sofia Arvidsson in the final. Her highest ranked opponent over the course of the tournament was ranked 66th in the world.
They may both have been confidence boosting tournament victories for a player who has held the silverware aloft at every Grand Slam bar Roland Garros, but the gap between the relative abilities of her opponents at Strasbourg last week compared with the calibre of opposition Sharapova will have to defeat if she’s to complete a career Grand Slam at the French Open this year is vast.
The French Open 12th seed has found herself in the trickiest quarter of the draw, and though she should be untroubled in her first match against Russian qualifier Ksenia Pervak, Sharapova faces the prospect of a third round match against four-time champion Justine Henin, a fourth round match against the in-form Samantha Stosur, and a quarter-final against Serena Williams.
Survive all that and she’s still got to have the energy to last two more matches to win the title.
It might just be too much to ask of a player still seeking to launch her game back to the heights it reached at Wimbledon in 2004, the 2006 US Open and at the Australian Open in 2008.
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