Maria Sharapova overcomes Alexandra Dulgheru in the opening round – Mutua Madrid Open 2013
Russian diva, Maria Sharapova, had an excellent beginning to her Mutua Madrid Open campaign on Monday, as she dismissed the Romanian qualifier, Alexandra Dulgheru, in the opening round battle on Monday. The world number two took one hour and 36 minutes to register an assertive score line of 7-5, 6-2, to reach the second round of the WTA Premier Mandatory event in Madrid, Spain.
The 26-year-old Russian first defeated the Romanian underdog at 2011 Miami Masters in three gruelling sets but it was a far comprehensive victory for her this time round. Dulgheru posted some resistance in the opening set of the match but couldn’t do much to withstand the all-round onslaught from the former world number one opponent in the second set of the match. Sharapova kept playing her usual aggressive game throughout the match and successfully registered her 24th triumph of the 2013 WTA season in style.
The first witnessed a steady start from both players and no break point was seen in the opening six games. Surprisingly, Dulgheru drew first blood in the seventh game of the match, breaking the Russian serve to lead 4-3. However, Sharapova didn’t waste a moment to bring her down to even terms by nailing a cracking break point in the very next game. The Romanian underdog could hold just one more serve game before another break of serve from Sharapova left her stranded in the 12th game. The second seeded Russian took the opener at 7-5 to get one up in the contest.
The slender-legged Russian kept with her impetus in the following set of the match and broke her opponent early this time. A subsequent serve hold gave Sharapova a commanding 4-1 lead in the second set. Dulgheru got baffled by the early damage done and kept spilling unforced errors all the way. Sharapova eventually wrapped up victory with a break point in the eighth game, 6-2.
The Russian blonde will take on the American qualifier, Christina McHale, in the second round encounter of Madrid Open later this week. If Sharapova manages to win this tournament, she will become the new world number one as well.
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