CRITICAL SASS
Sharapova coasts into Round of 16 and returns fire to rival Wozniacki
Three down, four to go for Meldonium Maria.
The Maria Sharapova express Train 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.
And afterward, Sharapova took a little snipe at one of her critics — specially Caroline Wozniacki.
In her first Grand Slam appearance in 19 months, Sharapova is almost halfway to a storybook title at Flushing Meadows, though Friday’s one-hour, 49-minute romp wasn’t a keen barometer. She overpowered an 18-year-old defensive baseliner playing her idol and who entered the U.S. Open ranked 139th.
Much to Wozniacki’s dismay, Sharapova was back on center court. Her April return from a 15-month suspension for taking meldonium —which promotes circulation of oxygen to vital organs — has been met with icy reactions from some of her rivals.
Wozniacki said after her ouster that she doesn’t believe Sharapova should be playing on Ashe.
“I don’t make the schedule,’’ Sharapova said. “I’m a pretty big competitor. If you put me out in the parking lot of Queens in New York City, I’m happy to play there. All that matters to me is I’m in the fourth round. Yeah, I’m not sure where she is.’’
At least Sharapova’s U. S. Open run virtually assures her of a return to the top 100, meaning no wild card will be necessary for the 2018 Australian Open.
Sharapova notched 36 winners to Kenin’s six.
“She came out and had nothing to lose,’’ Sharapova said of Kenin. “That’s always dangerous. I didn’t see the ball too well at the beginning. I had a lot of unforced errors and not getting the shots I wanted.”
After winning her opening match against No. 2 seed Simona Halep, Sharapova’s draw opened up strikingly well for her run that now has her facing No. 6 seed Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia on Sunday in the Round of 16. She won’t have to face a top 10 opponent until the semifinals, but could face surging American Sloane Stephens in the quarterfinals.
Sharapova, 12 years older than her foe at age 30, is attempting to become the second-ever wild card to win a major after Kim Clijsters captured the 2009 U.S. Open. She entered the tournament having not played since late July because of injuries.
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. Kenin chased the ball back to the baseline to float 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 hit a beautiful backhand lob winner. A standing ovation ensued.
“I felt I had to win the point four times,’’ Sharapova said. “One of them I turned around and next thing I knew, it came back.”
There were a lot of parallels to the two players. Kenin, too, was born in Russia, settled in Florida as a 6-yearold to attempt to become a pro tennis player. Sharapova moved from Russia to Florida at age 9. Obviously Kenin is no detractor.
“She had really nice words for me in the locker room [in Russian], which was really nice,’’ Sharapova said.
It was a rollercoaster first set for Sharapova and lasted 66 minutes. 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 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. Afterward, Sharapova called Kenin “fearless.’’
Kenin showed a lot of emotion, fist-pumping after breaking Sharapova’s serve. Sharapova made 28 unforced errors in the first set, but gathered herself as Kenin served at 6-5 to force a tiebreaker.
Sharapova broke, smoking a crosscourt service return winner and overpowering her on set point. A scampering Kenin flailed at a Sharapova’s missile forehand into 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 backside side to shoot up 3-0.
Nevertheless, Kenin kept it up and broke Sharapova’s serve to get the set to 3-2. Sharapova broke back to go up 4-2 and soon the match was over — with Sharapova ending it with a drop shot of her own.