MOTHER OF ALL BATTLES
Serena sets up showdown with rival Sharapova
MARIA SHARAPOVA would not be a universally popular winner of the French Open, but people might have to get used to the idea in the coming week.
The 31-year-old Russian is through to the fourth round and is now lined up for a seismic clash with her old adversary Serena Williams.
Adversary is a better term than rival, because the American has won 19 of their 21 meetings, including the last 18.
Williams won her match yesterday evening against Julia Goerges, the No11 seed from Germany. And the American was supreme, taking it 6-3, 6-4 in a routine manner.
Sharapova kept up her side of the bargain in stunning fashion when she brushed aside former world No1 Karolina Pliskova 6-2 6-1 in just 59 minutes, continuing her excellent vein of form following a slump.
Two months ago it appeared that Sharapova’s comeback from her doping suspension – which goes all the way back to April last year – was in danger of fizzling out into mediocrity.
She was hammered by Angelique Kerber at January’s Australian Open and it turned out to be the start of a run of four successive defeats.
Not only that, but she parted company with her loyal coach Sven Groenefeld, who had stuck with her throughout the ban.
But the arrival of the outdoor clay court season heralded a revival, coinciding with her turning back to a former coach, Sweden’s Thomas Hogstedt, who has reinvigorated her game.
She started to gain some momentum coming into Roland Garros, a place where she has often performed strongly.
In her five appearances in Paris leading up to the hiatus in her career, she won the title twice, made another final and a semifinal too.
Despite that record she was not offered a wildcard for last year’s event when her ranking was too low to enter, with French Federation President Bernard Giudicelli taking the strong stance that it would send out entirely the wrong message on anti-doping matters.
Sharapova has reverted to type on this visit, shrieking her way to victories that put her in the last 16, and this time taming the ferocious serve of No6 seed Pliskova.
Sharapova’s own serve was particularly impressive, and this will go down as probably her best win in this phase of her career since knocking out Simona Halep at the US Open last summer.
‘I came into Europe and Stuttgart [her first event of the clay season] with not a great record, not playing great tennis with a lot of injuries, and have been able to turn that around a little bit,’ she said.
‘I’ve been able to put myself in this position of playing better tennis. That’s what I continue to work for, of course. You don’t put those hours on the back courts in Bradenton, Florida to just show up at events like this and not bring it,’ she added referring to her training base in America.
‘I think that Roland Garros presents maybe more challenges than others with the weather, with the schedule. You just have to come forward and really face it.
‘So I think I improved quite a lot in this match from my first two rounds. I had to. I didn’t really have a choice against a player like her.’
Such is the wide open nature of the women’s event that you would not bet against Sharapova emerging from the field to make the final.
In contrast, the men’s favourite Rafael Nadal looks untouchable as he cruised into the fourth round by beating home hope Richard Gasquet in straight sets, 6-3 6-2 6-2.