Maria Sharapova: out of the 2010 China Open
One time World Number 1 Maria Sharapova has been suffering a very bad run this year. Her once burgeoning career seems to be on the decline, and barring a phenomenal comeback, she may never recover from the many hits she’s been taking
in 2010. She has participated in 13 tournaments this year, and has won titles in two lesser events: the Regions Morgan Keegan Champs. & Cellular South Cup and the Internationaux de Strasbourg (she was seeded first at both these tournaments). The 23 year old
Russian made it to the finals of the AEGON Classic, the Bank of the West Classic and the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open (where she was the tenth seed).
Her last two tournaments were the 2010 US Open, where she emerged as the victor in the year 2006, and the 2010 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. At this year’s US Open, 14th seed Sharapova made it to the fourth round, battering
players such as Jarmila Groth, Iveta Benesova and American newcomer Beatrice "Trice" Capra, before falling to eventual semi finalist, first seed Caroline Wozniacki.
At the Toray Pan Pacific Open, Sharapova imploded within the first round, losing to 40 year old Japanese Kimiko Date Krumm. She was unfazed by this defeat, especially in light of her preparation for the next tournament, saying, “Going
down in the first round in Tokyo and coming here gives you kind of a little bit of a window to prepare.”
At World Number 15, Maria Sharapova’s latest tournament was the 2010 China Open, held in Beijing. She triumphed at the first round, with a two set defeat of Bulgarian tennis pro Tsvetana Pironkova, giving her access to round two.
In this first round, she defeated her opponent 6-4, 7-6 (5), acknowledging the difficulty of the match and the tenacity of her competition by saying, “The first rounds are always quite difficult, and I faced a tough opponent. Sometimes it's when your opponent
plays their best tennis is when they're behind. And they kind of don't have much to lose, and they go for their shots.”
Both players made significant mistakes during the first set, but Pironkova took most of them, giving Sharapova a 5-2 lead. She ended the first set with a powerful ace, taking over the match at 6-4. Her first set opened flawlessly,
giving her an easy 3-0 advantage due to breaking twice. Pironkova continued to fight back, though, drawing the match to 4 all, and fighting two match points to reach the tiebreaker; Sharapova took over the match here, finishing the World Number 34 by winning
the match at 6-4, 7-6 (5).
Her next match was against fellow countrywoman, Elena Vesnina. In this round, Sharapova suffered a defeating blow, knocking her out of the tournament. She got off to a weak start during the start of the match, and lost her serve through
the fourth game, which ultimately pushed the set into a deciding tie-break. The first set went to Vesnina, who then forced Sharapova to surrender to her baseline play, as well as give in to 7 double faults. E
lena Vesnina won the match with a final score of 7-6(3), 6-2, within an hour and 39 minutes, eliminating Maria Sharapova from the event. All that remains to be seen, is whether Sharapova will make a comeback within this year, or if
the next year is the one she plans to once again take by storm.
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