Sharapova’s confidence on upswing

Maria Sharapova is fond of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Even if she has won it only once in her first nine tries, even though she’s suffered some of her most lopsided career defeats here.

“It was one of my first big pro tournaments,” Sharapova said Wednesday. “I won my first round and then I played Monica Seles for my only time. She was seeded, I thought I played extremely well and then I looked at the score line and it was bad.”

The score was 6-0, 6-2 in favor of Seles and even now, Sharapova said, looking at that score is painful. “It’s like a bullet hits your head,” she said. “It was a huge reality check. Because when I finished the match you don’t think you could have done anything better and wonder, ‘Where do I go from here?’ Later at the practice court I started to think a little bit and learn.”

Sharapova’s uncompetitive loss to Seles in 2002 wasn’t the worst experience she’d have at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. In 2005 she lost a semifinal match to Lindsay Davenport, 6-0, 6-0. A year later, though, Sharapova was the tournament winner, and she enters this year’s event seeded second behind Victoria Azarenka.

Sharapova said she feels much more confident than a year ago here, when she lost to eventual champion Caroline Wozniacki, 6-1, 6-2, in the semifinals.

She’s played in two major finals since then, at Wimbledon in 2011(where she lost to Petra Kvitova, 6-3, 6-4) and at the 2012 Australian Open (where she lost to Azarenka, 6-3, 6-0).

Though she’s won three major titles and is on the cover of the WTA Tour media guide, Sharapova hasn’t won a major since having shoulder surgery in September 2008.

“Twice in the last few months I’ve been a match away from winning a Grand Slam,” Sharapova, 24, said. “Obviously, the next stage is to get them.

“Looking back a year ago when I was sitting in this chair, I’m in a much better position now with two Slam finals. It’s challenging but it’s extremely great I’ve put myself in this position. It gives me a great amount of confidence.” Making progress

Jamie Hampton, 22, won her third WTA Tour-level match Wednesday, 6-0, 6-1, defeating 38th-ranked Polona Hercog of Slovenia. Hampton is ranked 99th in the world and made her debut as a top-100 player last week. She’s the seventhranked U.S. player in the world.