Maria Sharapova proved why “Made in Russia” stands for quality in the tennis world. She beat Taipei’s Chan in straight sets 63 62.
Masha who has been having a lot of trouble when playing matches showed that there still is something to her not allowing Chan to get a hold of her service games saving all of the break-points. Yet there is a lot to be done as her second serve let her down quite a lot (she served 8 double-faults) and her lateral movement is a bit sloppy at the moment. But there were a lot of fine moments too in this match as she hit two aces, hit some great volleys and also used some slices to mix up the pace. She often used some extra spin as well. All in all she’s doing better than before, but she must go on gaining confidence and match toughness.
As expected she was wearing her tulip dress (see the 2nd round preview post ) in which she looked quite good. The skirt though wasn’t too hot 😉
Alison Lang was the referee of the match and due to bad reception I couldn’t hear who won the toss. Still it was Chan who opened the match. She seemed a bit overwhelmed and it showed as she served some double-faults. Maria had a breakpoint, but she didn’t convert as she seemed to be a little rusty and hesitant herself. You could see Maria striking the ball with much more topspin then before and she didn’t care using her forehand more than her backhand.
But this wouldn’t keep Maria from losing her spirit and she tied it at 1-1 with a lot of patience and will. Both still were a little bit hesitant at first, but Masha took the initiative breaking Chan’s serve on the second break point. Thrilled with this she went on hitting an ace at 113 mph (181 kmh) down the middle and lead 3-1 after having won a love game. Chan wouldn’t give up and did just the same not losing a point to get it up to 2-3. For the next hold Maria had to work extra hard as it was one of the longest games in the match. It was obvious Maria wasn’t playing that well at that time as she would go for easier shots returning to the middle a lot. With some great shots by both the game was kept alive a long time, but then finally going the Russian’s way. During the next game Masha was a bit passive at first, but then pumped her fist some more and seemed to be more of a fighter in the next games than before. Maria won the first set eventually 63.
During the break an unkown coach went to help Maria giving her advice. He said she should trust her backhand down the line and go on attacking Chan’s weak 2nd serve. It was funny to see that Chan’s coach was also her dad, but I didn’t understand what they were talking about. Maria gained confidence in the second set and did just what her coach told her to do. She used the backhand down the line a lot and the result was positive. Chan seemed to get overpowered in the second set though there were some excellent shots from her side as well. Sharapova went up 3-0 winning a great rally en route and then lost a game to Chan. At the 3-1 it started to rain and Eurosport stopped showing the match. The rest wasn’t shown anymore. Russia’s number one player and topseed Maria Sharapova won the second set 62 winning the match therefore in straight sets.
