Maria Sharapova strides past Kim Clijsters in the quarter-final – London Olympics 2012
Clash of the titans, Kim Clijsters up against Maria Sharapova, witnessed the latter player beating the fellow former world number one in straight sets 6-2, 7-5 to reach the semi-final stage of London Olympics on Thursday.
In the 10th clash of their career, the third seed Russian managed to sneak her fourth head-to-head triumph against the 36th ranked Belgian to round off the semi-final draw of the Olympics.
It was a thrilling encounter and considering that the 29-year-old Belgian was playing her second last tournament of the career, it made it much more special for her to play it with great courage and dignity. She might have lost
the battle but was a better celebrity of the two at the Centre Courts of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon.
Clijsters witnessed her serve broken in the first game of the match and Sharapova lost just one point on her first serve and gained a lead of 2-0. A swap of breakpoints kept the lead intact for the Russian who gathered pace towards
the end of the first set by bagging another breakthrough and leading the scores 5-2.
The Belgian superstar tried her best to keep the set alive but Sharapova was keen on winning the first set in the ninth game; saved a breakpoint to hold serve and move on with a set lead in the match. It was a difficult start for
the in-form Belgian who was expected to extend the match in three sets at least.
Clijsters, once again, faltered in the third game of the second game that gifted a breakthrough to her rival. However this time, she recovered well to level the scores at 3-3 with a successful conversion of a breakpoint.
The scores kept ticking over and the Russian finally got the pivotal breakthrough in the 11th game that helped her to win the encounter.
Sharapova said, "I knew I had to step it up today and stay extra focused. Kim is such a tough competitor. Obviously she has won so many Grand Slams. She has endless experience. We've always had difficult matches, and I was really
happy I was able to step it up today, compared to my previous matches here. An opponent like Kim can obviously turn the match around at any time."
Clijsters said, "Of all the matches I've played against her in my career, this is the best she has ever served. On grass it's going to be tough to beat her.”
Maria Sharapova books a semi-final showdown with Maria Kirilenko with this triumph.
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