Maria Sharapova struggles against Caroline Garcia to move into third round – French Open 2011
Russian tennis diva, Maria Sharapova laboured her way into the third round at the 2011 Roland Garros on Thursday, 26th May, after doing away with local wildcard entrant Caroline Garcia in three sets.
The 24-year-old Russian took almost two hours to secure a 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory over her French opponent.
Putting in her eighth appearance here, a title win at the prestigious Roland Garros is the only jewel missing from her otherwise well decorated crown. A former world number one, Sharapova hopes to make it all the way to the title match for a chance at the coveted prize.
Seeded seventh at the event, Sharapova started her ascent here against Croat Mirjana Lucic. Losing only three games in the process, the Russian moved into the second round with a 6-3, 6-0 victory. Garcia, on the other hand, moved ahead after suffering a seven game loss against Zuzana Ondraskova.
Following Clijsters and Murray at the Philippe Chatrier, Sharapova was determined to count herself amongst the winners of the day.
However, the French had other plans. Backed by the local crowd, Garcia raced into an early 4-1 lead as she broke the Russian’s serve in the second and fourth game. Extending her lead to 5-3, Garcia served out the set to clinch a 6-3 win for herself.
Taking almost forty five minutes, Garcia registered a meagre 68% win on her first serve as capitalised on the Russian’s sixteen unforced errors to go one up in the set score.
Determined to shine in front of her people, Garcia continued to humiliate the Russian as she earned an early break in the second set to lead 2-0. Minutes later, Garcia capitalised on the Russian’s inability to save breakpoints to lead the game score 4-1. However, Sharapova broke back in the fifth game and reeled off three games to reduce the deficit and level the score at 4-4. A successful hold of her serve in the ninth and errant strokes from the French in the tenth, awarded a 6-4 victory to the Russian levelling the set score at 1-1.
The Russian reformed herself in the third set as she successfully held her serves and broke her opponent in the second and fourth game to secure a 5-0 lead. Powerful winners from Sharapova with much help from the error prone French, allowed the Russian to clinch a bagel set victory and ensure her survival at the event.
Sharapova moves on ahead to play Taiwanese qualifier Chan Yung-jan. Chan moved into the third round without losing a set after upsetting 31st seeded Czech Klara Zakopalova in the first round on Tuesday, 24th May, and American Jill Craybas in the second round earlier today.
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