Serena Williams crushes Maria-Jose Martinez Sanchez to enter the third round – US Open 2012
Runner-up of the US Open 2011, Serena Williams, rallied past the Spanish contestant, Maria-Jose Martinez Sanchez, in the second round of the Grand Slam held on the hard courts of New York. The world number four gave her challenger
a straight sets defeat, 6-2, 6-4, on Thursday afternoon to reach the third round of the coveted Grand Slam event.
Serena in an interview told said, “I wasn't really happy with the way I was playing. I just wasn't happy out there today in general. I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. It makes me want to stay more. Losing Kim
was so hard. I saw her yesterday. I just hugged her. My eyes got watery. ... I didn't expect that reaction.”
The fourth seeded American contender initiated the contest with her superb performance, exhibiting her excellent run of form for the tournament. Williams is one of the top favourite candidates for the US Open title this year,
she confidently served all her game and did not suffer even a single break point in the entire set. By the middle of the set, she had marked her 4-1 lead and devastated the Spanish and ultimately went on closing the opening set with a 6-2 score line.
The 14-times Grand Slam US champion was initially unable to clamp the games in the next set. The left-hander veteran picked momentum and achieved her lead, marking it as a worrying sign for her opponent. Williams managed
to squeeze her breakthrough and forced a comeback in the contest.
The draw between the two veterans proved to a challenging encounter as the scores squared to 4-all. The American professional aggressively progressed further and stamped her authority over the following two games to register
a 6-4 win.
The three-time US Open champion pounced eleven aces against her Spanish rival and double faulted six times in the match. She had an average first serve percentage of 59, converting four of seven break points. On the contrary,
Sanchez double faulted seven times at the crucial instances and just nailed one of the seven breaking serves gifted to her.
Williams maintains a 4-love head-to-head lead against Sanchez. Previously, she annihilated the rival in the second round of the Medibank International tournament held on the hard courts of Sydney by 6-1, 6-2. The American
number one will contest against the unseeded Russian, Ekaterina Makarova, in the third round.
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