Serena Williams vs Maria Sharapova – Quarterfinal Preview: Bank of the West Classic 2011
Day-6 of the Bank of the West Classic 2011 will see the likes of the two former world number 1 players, the American Serena Williams the Russian Maria Sharapova at the at the Taube Family Tennis Center Stanford University, California.
Not meeting for the first time; both the players have experienced the technique and skills of one another. They battled each other eight times prior to this event. The American has a 6-2 lead in their head to head. Out of the eight
matches played against each other, five were on hard courts, out of those five; four have been won by Williams and the remaining one by Sharapova. Hence, it is likely that the 29-year-old American will bag yet another victory over her old time rival.
The two cross swords for the first time on a hard court at the Miami Masters, Miami, Florida, USA in 2004. Despite the age factor Serena won the match 6-4, 6-3 and gained 1-0 match lead against Sharapova.
The Celestial Power had made fate cross their paths again but this time they met in the final round of the third Grand Slam event; Wimbledon, London, Great Britain. It was time for the Russian to avenge her loss, both the players
battled it out on an outdoor grass court and to everyone’s surprise, she not only took her revenge but also won the a grand slam title.
They met again in 2004 but Serena lost to Sharapova; however that was the last time and since 2005 to date Williams has never lost a match to Maria.
Both the players will be meeting for the ninth time today, many experts and critics are of the view that the 29-year old Serena has a competitive edge over Maria due to her successive wins. However, some experts also assume that
the 24-year-old Russian would have caught on to her opponent’s game play.
Standing at world number 5 the Russian (Maria Sharapova) has played a total of 499 matches in her professional career out which she has won 401. This year she has won 32 matches and lost 8. Sharapova’s career high ranking was on
the 22nd of August 2005 when she was standing at world number one. This year she has played three Grand Slams and has had an experience of playing world top 30 players. Wimbledon was her last run where she lost the final against the world number
8 Petra Kvitova but became a runner up of the Grand Slam event.
The 29-year-old American has been out of the game for most of the past year due to her foot injury. She dropped from world number 1 to 172 and although she has not contested for a number of tournaments this year, she still managed
to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon where she battled it out on a grass court against the number nine seed Marion Bartoli, which she lost.
Serena is the fifth player to hold all four Grand Slam singles titles and was also the first women to hold all four Grand Slam doubles titles with sister, Venus since Martina Hingis. She holds thirty seven Women’s Tennis Association
(WTA) tour singles titles, thirteen Grand Slam crowns, last but not the least, she holds the title for most aces served by a female at Wimbledon in 2010.
Serena is a laureate in tennis history, a player that inaugurated a new level of power, skill, and technique. She is expected to move past the Russian in three sets.
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