Maria Sharapova is eyeing to capture the US Open (Part two: Clay court dominance) – Tennis Special
Former world number one, Maria Sharapova, carried her rhythm at the clay court season. She made title-round appearances on hard courts but got the breakthrough after catching her first year-to-date title on German dirt. Mustering
her performance further, the Russian went on to conquer Rome and completed her Career Grand Slam after ruling Roland Garros.
The Russian number one recorded her best clay court season this year and reclaimed her top rank at the WTA Premier Rankings. She registered an 11-1 win-loss record on clay and climbed back to world number one after four years.
"It's just amazing to be back in this position of being World No.1 again," Sharapova reflected.
Sharapova started her clay campaign at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. After registering a retirement victory against Alize Cornet, the Russian set up a battle with the reigning US Open titlist, Samantha Stosur. She
battled past the Aussie number one in three sets and then carried her rhythm against third seeded Petra Kvitova. Sharapova eased past the Czech top ranked player in straight sets before crushing the top seed, Victoria Azarenka, in the final showdown.
The Russian star stated in a press conference after clicking Stuttgart and triumphing over Belarusian number one:
"This was such a tough tournament with such difficult opponents, so I'm just happy to be the champion.”
The gorgeous Russian kept momentum rolling at the Mutua Madrid Open, a blue clay court Premier event. She easily secured a quarter-final berth after overpowering Romania’s Irina Begu and Czech Republic’s Klara Zakopalova in straight
sets (received a walkover win against Lucie Safarova in the third round). Regardless of crashing out to ninth seeded Serena Williams with a breadstick, Sharapova stayed on the right track for her next tournament in Rome.
The 25-year-old lifted her game at the Internazionali BNL D’Italia and stomped over her entire rivals including former world number ones, Ana Ivanovic and Venus Williams, in straight sets to set up a date with the former French
Open champion Li Na. She lost the opening set against the Chinese number one but made an epic comeback after it. Sharapova spilled 10 double faults and lost her serve six times. However, she remained focused and eventually carved out the victory with a 4-6,
6-4, 7-6(5) score line in two hours and 53 minutes.
The delighted Russian stated after capturing her second year-to-date title:
"This is a great win for me going into Roland Garros. I know the level she played there last year and the level she can play on clay, the way she defends and moves around and gets herself back into position, she's just a great
player on any surface really. So this gives me a lot of confidence.”
With this victory, the Russian entered the French Open, third of the four Grand Slam events, in full confidence. Not only this, she maintained her intensity and ultimately conquered this major clay court event held in Paris.
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