Maria Sharapova powers down Klara Zakopalova to reach the third round – Mutua Madrid Open 2012
Russian beauty queen, second seed Maria Sharapova, had limited trouble in disposing of the Czech veteran, Klara Zakopalova, in the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open on Tuesday. The second ranked Russian diva wrapped up the
proceedings in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, to march into the round of 16 of the star-studded event in Madrid, Spain.
The 25-year-old Russian diva took barely 77 minutes to dispose of the 44th ranked bleak Czech contender in a convincing manner. She had defeated Zakopalova, 6-2, 6-3, in the third round of Wimbledon Championships last
year and finished off Tuesday’s matchup with almost the similar score line to lead 2-1 in the head-to-head series against the Czech. Sharapova carried on her purple patch of the season to move a step closer to the quarter-final draw of this WTA (Women’s Tennis
Association) Premier Mandatory event.
Zakopalova proved to be easy bait for the slender-legged Russian beauty, who posed yet another display of sheer class and dominance to route her off the competition. Her error-ridden game play included seven crucial double faults,
whilst Sharapova kept securing the all-important points to cruise through the two sets with the utmost ease. She clinched 22 out of 30 first serve points and broke the Czech serve five out of eight times en route to victory.
"The good thing about indoors is you pretty much know what you're going to get in terms of the conditions," Sharapova commented after playing her second match on the new blue clay being introduced by WTA. "You don't have to worry
about the wind or anything, so it's a plus that with this ever-changing weather we could have the roof. We actually didn't know until the last minute if it was going to be open or closed - but you just try to focus on what's ahead."
Sharapova is slated to face the other unseeded Czech competitor, Lucie Safarova, for a place in the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open. Safarova was successful against the Spanish wildcard entrant, Carla Suarez Navarro, 6-3, 6-4,
in the second round of the tournament to face the world number two.
World number one, Victoria Azarenka, also won her second round clash against Andrea Hlavackova to book a third round berth in Madrid. Fifth seed Aussie Tennis Ace, Samantha Stosur and the former world number one, Caroline Wozniacki
of Denmark, also cleared the second round draw of the tournament to carry on their voyage to glory.
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