Aggressive Maria continues her fine run
BEIJING: Maria Sharapova felt her aggression was key as she fought to a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 victory over Ekaterina Makarova in the second round of the China Open. The five-time major winner earned a straight-sets victory over Makarova in just her second match back from a 15-month doping ban in Stuttgart in April, but she found the going much tougher in Beijing. After losing the opening game on serve, the former world number one reeled off four in succession to take a first set that ended with four straight breaks. Makarova raced into a 4-1 lead in the second before forcing a decider, in which Sharapova stepped up a gear to set up a meeting with second seed Simona Halep, who will be out for vengeance after her first-round US Open defeat to the 30-year-old.
“I thought the level of tennis was quite high,” said Sharapova.
“We had a few breaks in the first [set]. I felt that despite losing that second set, I was motivated to start the third. I was the more aggressive player in the end.”
Halep was handed passage to the third round when Magdalena Rybarikova retired at 6-1 2-1 down due to illness.
‘SERENA MAY LACK INTIMIDATION FACTOR’
SINGAPORE: New mother Serena Williams will lack some of her trademark intimidation factor when she returns to tennis, US great Chris Evert said, warning that the 23-time Grand Slam-winner may find her comeback tough.
Williams, who gave birth to a baby girl in September, has said she’s planning to defend her title at the Australian Open in January -- just four-and-a-half months after becoming a mother.
But Evert said standards in women’s tennis had risen this year since Williams stepped off the tour, warning that the 36 -year-old would be returning to a more competitive environment.
“I think that this whole year, the level has gone up because Serena hasn’t been dominant and the other players have all felt that they had a shot at it, at the number one ranking,” Evert said. “I think that because of that challenge, they have improved in the physical and the mental part of it because they’ve all had a shot at it and they’ve pushed each other and that’s why there have been so many different winners.”