Maria Sharapova outplayed Samantha Stosur to qualify for the quarter-final of Sony Ericsson Open
Former world number one Maria Sharapova of Russia extended her winning streak against the world number five Samantha Stosur of Australia by defeating her in the fourth round of Sony Ericsson Open at Miami, Florida on Monday night. The Russian faced limited
resistance from her opponent in the contest and wrapped up the straight sets victory at 6-4, 6-1, in one hour and twenty two minutes.
The 23-year-old Sharapova outplayed the Australian for the seventh consecutive time in her career, while she remains unbeaten. The Russian registered her 10thwin of the running WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) season to qualify for the quarter-finals
at Miami.
“I have a good record against her, but she's a very tough player,” Sharapova reflected her views about Stosur after the match, “She's number five in the world, you can't take that for granted going out on the court.”
Winner of three Grand Slams, the Russian has lost merely 12 games in her three matches at Sony Ericsson Open. She coughed five double faults in the game against Stosur but they didn’t cost her much as her opponent conceded the same number of errors. Sharapova
kept the game short and professional, crafting opportunities of her own and pressurizing the Australian to submit the match.
Like Sharapova, Stosur delivered her first serve with 61 per cent accuracy. The Aussie failed to collect enough points to edge past her Russian opponent, clinching just 48 out of 113 total points being played in the match. Sharapova had an aggressive start
to the game and kept pushing Stosur to commit unforced errors. She fired three aces and won 73 per cent of first serve points en route to a victory.
Sharapova made frequent forays to the net in the opener to convert some juicy volleys into cross-court winners. She had a strong baseline defence throughout the contest and denied the Aussie off three break points. Stosur dropped her serve twice in the opening
set and broke once to cut down the deficit. However, the strong Russian competitor forced her way through to bag the first set at 6-4 to get the upper hand in the game.
The 13th ranked Russian proved less merciful in the next set and completely blew away Stosur with her power game. Sharapova won 75 per cent first serve points in the second set and break points to leave her opponent answerless. Stosur held serve
in just one of her games and eventually surrendered the match at 1-6, letting Sharapova advance to the quarter-finals of the event.
The Russian will face the 26th seed Romanian, Alexandra Dulgheru in the round of eight at Miami. Dulgheru defeated Shuai Peng of China in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, in the fourth round.
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