s**y Tennis Star Maria Sharapova Ready to Dominate at Wimbledon
No. 16 seed Maria Sharapova looks ready for yet another dominant performance in the second round of the Wimbledon Open when she faces unheralded Romanian opponent Ioana Raluca Olaru.
Sharapova, former Wimbledon Open champion, needed only a grand total of 54 minutes to overpower her Russian compatriot, unseeded Anastasia Pivovarova in their first round match. The former Wimbledon champion lost only one game, 6-1, 6-0, and was never threatened at any point in the match. Needless to say, the former world number 1 looks ready to win back the title she won six years ago.
The unseeded Olaru needed all three sets and nearly two hours more than Sharapova’s entire match to defeat Alize Cornet of France, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. She offers little hope of beating Sharapova if she plays the same way she played in this match. She committed a total of 56 unforced errors, including 9 double faults, while allowing 17 break opportunities to her opponent. She can ill-afford to commit these errors against Sharapova, who is sure to take advantage of them.
Sharapova, interestingly enough, could still improve on some things from her first round match despite the lopsided scoreline. She hit only 51% of her first serves in. Surely, she is looking for a higher percentage, although she double faulted only twice. She won all but one point when her first serve went through, showing how dangerous she is when she has just a little bit of an advantage.
Sharapova is known as one of the hardest hitters in the women’s game. Her trademark grunts add intensity to already powerful ground-strokes. She also has a big serve. Her opponents can do little when the first serve goes in; usually, Sharapova finishes off the point in the next shot after a weak return.
Look for her to play her usual game against her Romanian opponent. An easy win is on the cards, and if she improves her first serve percentage, it would not be surprising if her opponent does not win a game at all. This is even more likely if Olaru serves the same way she did in her own first round match. Sharapova will surely punish those second serves and take advantage of break opportunities, like she did in her first rounder, where she converted 50% of the break points allowed to her.
The Russian star’s recent form does not bode well for any of her opponents, regardless of who they are. She recently said, “I feel good. My body feels good. I’m in much better condition than I was last year.”
The reason for her drop from world number one to her current world ranking of 17 was due to injuries. Now that she’s recovered, her world-class form seems to be returning as well, and no better way to prove it than with that first round destruction. Undoubtedly, she is looking to further catch the eyes of the naysayers that overlooked her despite her being a former champion. She seems to be focused and that isn’t good news for Olaru.
Olaru must play her best and hope that Sharapova plays her worst if she has a chance of surviving. Sharapova, with her all-out style and going for power on every shot, has the penchant for committing errors. Olaru must hope for that to happen and pray that she herself doesn’t give away free points on errors, especially on double faults.
Bold Prediction: Sharapova wins over Olaru in two sets.
Sharapova is looking really good and a similar result to her first round match is in the offing. Although the road back to top-10 has been bumpy, Sharapova has potential to have great Wimbledon outing this time.
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