Sharapova proves dangerous
NEW YORK So much about Maria Sharapova was the same as it ever was during her first Grand Slam match since a 15-month doping suspension: the shot-punctuating shrieks, the aggressive baseline style, the terrific returning, the sometimesshaky serving.
Another familiar sight: The five-time major champion gutted out a victory.
Sharapova recovered after faltering midway through the match and emerged to beat No. 2-seeded Simona Halep 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 at the U.S. Open on Monday night to reach the second round.
“This girl has a lot of grit and she’s not going anywhere,” Sharapova told the crowd in an on-court interview.
After leading by a set and 4-1 in the second, Sharapova showed some fatigue and rust, dropping five games in a row. But in the third, Sharapova regained control by going ahead 3-0, using her power to keep two-time French Open runner-up Halep under pressure.
Sharapova had not played at a Grand Slam tournament since January 2016, when she tested positive for the newly banned heart drug meldonium during the Australian Open. It was as if every one of Sharapova’s winners — and she compiled 60, 45 more than Halep — was her way of declaring, “I’m back!”
When a Halep shot sailed long to end the match after more than 2 1/2 hours, Sharapova dropped to her knees on court, then covered her face as her eyes welled with tears.
“I just thought that was another day, another opportunity, another match,” Sharapova said. “But this was so much more. I tried not to think about it.”
The 30-year-old Russian was allowed back on the tour this April, but she was denied a wild-card invitation for the French Open the next month. The U.S. Tennis Association did grant a wild card to Sharapova, who was once ranked No. 1 but is currently 146th.
That is 144 spots below Halep, who is among eight women that entered the U.S. Open with a chance to top the WTA rankings by tournament’s end. The draw at Flushing Meadows randomly paired the two players, providing a buzz-generating matchup that managed to live up to the hype on Day 1 at the year’s last Grand Slam tournament.
It was a tremendously entertaining and high-quality contest, more befitting a final than a first-rounder.
These two women have, indeed, faced off with a Grand Slam title at stake: Sharapova beat Halep in the 2014 French Open final, part of what is now her 7-0 head-to-head record in the matchup.
Earlier Monday, seven-time major champion Venus Williams picked up a 63, 3-6, 6-2 victory against Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia, a 19-year-old qualifier who is ranked 135th, joining past Wimbledon winners Garbine Muguruza and Petra Kvitova in the second round.
But No. 7 seed Johanna Konta, a Wimbledon semifinalist just last month, was bounced by 78th-ranked Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Shapovalov wins
Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov cruised into the second round of the U.S. Open with a 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 win over Russia’s Daniil Medvedev on Monday.
Shapovalov, from Richmond Hill, Ont., won the match in one hour 36 minutes to continue his impressive summer that saw him reach the semifinals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
The 18-year-old left-hander committed just two double-faults to Medvedev’s eight, and won points on 72 per cent of his first serves.
Shapovalov, playing in his first U.S. Open, next faces eighth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.