Maria Sharapova undoes Shahar Peer; cruises into the quarterfinal at Internazionali BNL d’Italia
Seventh seeded Russian Maria Sharapova eased past tenth seeded Israeli Shahar Pe’er in straight sets at Internazionali BNL d’Italia, a clay court tournament held in Rome, Italy. She registered a 6-2, 6-2 win over her fellow 24-year-old
Israeli to advance into the quarter-finals on Thursday.
A former world number one, Sharapova triumphed over the Israeli for the fifth straight time in seventy minutes. After her success at Foro Italico, the Russian extended her lead in the head-to-head series by 5-0 against Pe’er.
Ranked 8thin the WTA Premier rankings, Russian displayed awe-inspiring skills in the first set and after losing the first two games, she unleashed a flurry of ground strokes to reel off next six games in a row. Sharapova
converted three out of five breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to clinch with an assuring 6-2 score line. She registered an amazing 79 percent win on her higher first serve share and smacked two aces.
The Russian kept momentum rolling into the second set and kept her savage mode on to win the first three games in a row. She faced zero breakpoint and converted two out of three breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to seal
the set with 6-2 win again. Sharapova again earned an exceptional 94 percent win on her higher first serve share and never looked nervous throughout the set.
"I had a little bit of a slow start," said Sharapova, who lost the first two games of the match but took nine in a row to establish a 62 30 lead. "I was able to raise my level and find a good rhythm and play better as the match
went on."
Sharapova, a semi-finalist for the last two times she played this event in 2005 and 2008, is in good form this season so far. The Russian made a semi-final berth at Indian Wells and reached the final at Miami before entering this
tournament confidently. In this WTA Premier 5 event, she sailed smoothly into the quarters after earning double breadsticks in the first round against her compatriot Ekaterina Makarova and registering a 6-2, 6-2 score line against the Israeli. She has yet
to lose a set in this tournament and is on the path to the only grand slam she hasn’t won, the French Open.
"For me it's about getting as many matches as I can going into the French Open," the Russian said. "I had a few three-setters in Madrid, which hurt me in the last match I played there, but I'm happy I've been able to win here without
losing a set so far. I'm feeling confident right now."
Up next for Sharapova is the third seeded Belarusian Victoria Azarenka who downed sixteenth seeded Russian teenager, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in a three set thriller.
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