Sharapova says passion undimmed as she makes point

MELBOURNE: Maria Sharapova said her passion for tennis remained undimmed Monday after a serving a 6- 0, 6- 0 “double bagel” to Britain’s Harriet Dart in the Australian Open first round Monday. number one said Andy Murray’s announcement that this year’s tournament Down Under would be his last had underlined her determination to make the most of her time in the spotlight.

“You realise that you’re not immortal, you’re never going to play this forever, even though we’ve done it as long as we can think of,” she said.

However, she conceded her thoughts at times had turned to life after tennis.

“At one point, life goes on and there’s a lot of things to look forward to,” she said.

“You have family, children, other business ventures. To me, that doesn’t make me sad, that makes me excited.”

Sharapova was far from perfect against Dart, committing three double faults and eight unforced errors, but was never threatened by the 22-year- old Londoner.

Dart made a hesitant start against her childhood idol.

Sharapova pounced on the Briton’s weak second serve to repeatedly break her opponent, bringing up the first set bagel after 31 minutes.

The second set followed the same pattern, with Dart finally put out of her misery trying to save match point when she hit a return wide despite having an open court before her.

“Despite my opponent not having the best day, you still have to get the job done,” Sharapova said.

Sharapova has served up double bagels at least five times on tour, including two in a row at the 2013 Australian Open against fellow Russian Olga Puchkova and Misaki Doi of Japan in the first two rounds of the

tournament.