Serena and Maria close on Wimbledon clash
Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova are won win each away from setting up their first match against one another at the All England Club since a 17-year-old Sharapova won the Wimbledon final six years ago.
With Serena in formidable form in her opening two matches and Sharapova also playing strongly so far, it will be a tough task for Dominika Cibulkova or Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova to prevent this blockbuster clash from taking place.
We preview their chances here.
Serena Williams v Dominika Cibulkova
This third-round match will be the first time Cibulkova has experienced the force that is Serena Williams on the other side of the net, and with the defending champion only conceding one game in her second round match and then telling reporters her game is “a bit off”, she probably won’t want to repeat the dose any time soon.
“I think I really played well today. I think I played really well,” the world No. 1 said after dispatching Anna Chakvetadze 6-0, 6-1 in just 49 minutes. “I just feel that some of my shots are off and I feel I can do a lot better.”
World No. 46th ranked Cibulkova, who has already turned in her best performance in SW19 by reaching the third round, will be hard-pressed to even challenge the world No. 1 in this match, let alone win it.
Maria Sharapova v Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova
The good news for Sharapova, who hasn’t defeated a player inside the top-40 all year, is that 68th-ranked Zahlavova-Strycova eliminated 24th seed Daniela Hantuchova in a three-set second round match.
That said, Sharapova is playing an attacking brand of tennis right now, and her shoulder (on which Sharapova had surgery in 2008) is feeling better than it did when she was bundled out in the second round at Wimbledon last year.
Sharapova has won the only previous match she played against the Czech, back in 2008, and has showed enough in her opening two matches to suggest she’ll book an appointment with Serena in the round of 16.
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