Three down, four to go for Meldonium Maria. The Maria Sharapova express kept rolling through the U. S. Open in a 7-5,6-2 third-round victory over American…
Three down, four to go for Meldonium Maria.
The Maria Sharapova express kept rolling through the U. S. Open in a 7-5,6-2 third-round victory over American wild-card Sofia Kenin at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday night.
In her first Grand Slam appearance in 19 months, Sharapova is almost halfway to a storybook title at Flushing Meadows — though Friday’s romp wasn’ t a keen barometer as she faced an 18-year-old defensive baseliner, who was playing her idol after entering the Open ranked 139th.
After winning her opening match against No. 2 seed Simona Halep, Sharapova’s draw opened up strikingly well for her to make a run that now has her facing 16th seed Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia on Sunday in the Round of 16. The victory over Kenin puts Sharapova back in the top 100 in the world.
The 30-year-old Sharapova, 12 years older than Kenin, is attempting to become the second wild-card entry to win a major. The first was Kim Clijsters, who captured the 2009 U. S. Open. Sharapova entered the tournament having not played since late July because of injuries.
There were a lot of parallels between Sharapova and her opponent. Kenin, too, was born in Russia, though her family settled in Florida when she was 6 in an attempt to turn her into a pro tennis player. Sharapova moved from Russia to Florida at age 9.
Much to Caroline Wozniacki’s dismay, Sharapova was back on center court Friday. Her April return from a 15-month suspension for doping has been met with icy reactions from some of her rivals. Wozniacki doesn’ t believe Sharapova should be playing on Ashe. Coco Vandeweghe said she wished the wild card had gone to a young, up-and-coming American. Sharapova, in her upcoming memoir, wrote she felt “The world was against me.’ ’
The combatants saved their most entertaining point for the end of the match, with Sharapova showing her newfound agility.
Ahead 4-2, Sharapova tracked down a Kenin drop shot. With Kenin chasing the ball back to the baseline, Sharapova floated in a drop shop of her own. Sharapova charged in to gather it. But Kenin put Sharapova on the run again and the Russian raced back and lobbed a backhand passing shot past Kenin. A standing ovation ensued.
It was a roller coaster of a first set for Sharapova. After surviving two break points in the opening game, Sharapova got up a break at 2-0. But Kenin and her defensive, unorthodox game fought and got back on serve at 4-3 with Sharapova spraying too many shots. Kenin showed her the kitchen sink — a few drop shots, a couple of moonballs.
Kenin showed a lot more emotion, fist-pumping after breaking Sharapova’s serve. Sharapova made 28 unforced errors in the first set, but gathered herself as Kenin attempted to force a tiebreaker on her serve at 6-5. Sharapova broke, smoking a crosscourt service return winner and overpowering her on set point with a as a scampering Kenin flailed at a missile forehand in the open court.
In the second set, Sharapova got up again a break at 2-0. Kenin double-faulted on break point, getting rattled. At 40-0, Sharapova angled an ace on a second serve to Kenin’s back side to shoot up 3-0.
However, Kenin kept it up and broke Sharapova’s serve to level the situation at 3-2. Sharapova broke back to go up 4-2.
