Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova progress at the Roland Garros 2013 – Tennis news
Top two seeds, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, showed exceptional tennis skills to record straight set victories over their opponents on Friday, May 31 at the Roland Garros 2013.
The American icon crippled Sorana Cirstea with a bagel whereas Sharapova recorded a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Eugenie Bouchard in a rain-delayed second round match.
World number one, Williams stayed on track to not only inch towards the crown but also recorded the third longest winning streak of the millennium. She extended her winning streak to 27 matches and is in an awesome run of form.
Williams said, “I think everyone, when they step out to play me, I feel like they're really bringing their A-game. I just have to get really pumped up for everything to a point where I want to win as much as I can out there, whether it's every point or just
do the best that I can do. That's pretty much what I try to do. So far it's okay.”
The 31-year-old cruised into the Court Suzanne Lenglen. She reeled off six games and pulled out the opener with a bagel.
Williams kept momentum rolling in the following set. After Cirstea kept her serve in the fourth game, the American unleashed her skills and stroke out four games in a row. As a result, she pocketed the set with a 6-2 win.
Next in queue for Williams is the 15th seed, Roberta Vinci, who rallied past Czech Republic’s Petra Cetkovska in a three-set thriller to progress. Vinci made quick in-roads but lost her track. However, she regained her strength in the deciding set and eventually
sealed the match with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 score line.
The world number two, Sharapova displayed tremendous tennis skills to outshine Bouchard. She was leading 6-2, 5-2 before the match was suspended on Thursday due to rain. The Russian maintained consistency in her game and eventually closed out the battle
with a victory. She reflected, “At 8:45 last night, when it was still raining, it was pretty tough to continue. But I was happy to play part of the match and get myself in a good position to come out again today and finish it off.”
The gorgeous Russian manifested a lower first serve ratio of 50 per cent in contrast with her rival’s 55 per cent but superbly took 24 out of 30 points from it. She amazingly warded off five out of six breakpoints she faced and converted four out of six
break chances to her advantage.
Up next for Sharapova is the Chinese challenger, Jie Zheng, who beat America’s Melanie Oudin with a breadstick to set-up this epic battle.
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