TENNIS WTA Premier Madrid – Maria Sharapova beat Li Na at the Mutua Madrid Open coming back from a set down 2-6 7-6(5) 6-3. Li had committed 43 errors to 13 winners as oppose to Sharapova who had a 39:21 errors to winners’ ratio. Sharapova will face Agnieszka Radwanska tomorrow for a place in the final. Cordell Hackshaw
Interviews, results, order of play and draws of the Mutua Madrid Open
Li Na (2), the 2011 French Open champion and Maria Sharapova (8), the 2012 French Open champion, found themselves on court far earlier than expected as the first quarterfinals between Serena Williams and Petra Kvitova never got underway as Williams retired from the match. Nonetheless, the quality of play, tension and excitement in this one matchup was equal to that of two combined. In the end, Sharapova, last year’s finalist, showed herself to be the clear favourite for the title at the Mutua Madrid Open with Williams’ withdrawal. As she did in the 2nd round here against American Christina McHale, the Russian was on the brink of defeat but as is the case so often in her career, only then she produced her best tennis; willing her opponents into submission. She wrested control of this match after being outplayed for over a set and a half by Li to take it 2-6 7-6(5) 6-3. Sharapova would later say “I think today I was down, I didn’t play a great first set, and I found a way to get myself in a position to be in the third. Then certainly something changed a little bit and did something different to get myself going and give myself a bit more energy than I had in the first set.”
Maria Sharapova Part 1 “Experience helps to come back and stay focused”
It was apparent in the beginning stages of the match that Sharapova was not taking this match lightly. She holds a 9-4 lifetime record against Li but she is aware that Li is capable of playing a high level of tennis. Sharapova held comfortably on her first two service games. Li on the other hand was spraying the balls and fighting to hold serve. However, at 2-2, Sharapova lost her resolve and was broken to go down 2-3. She earned herself a break point in Li’s next service game but again Li did well to consolidate the break and go up 4-2. At this point, the Russian began to leak errors and was broken at love to give Li the double break. The Chinese wasted no time to close out the set 6-2 after 33 minutes. The numbers were not pretty by any stretch of the imagination as both women were erratic; 21 errors between them and only 4 winners. Li had no winners recorded though she won more points off her first serve (88%) than Sharapova did (58%).
Li carried her winning momentum into the 2nd set as Sharapova appeared to be forcing the issue and committing the errors. Li was able to capitalize on another break point to go up 4-3. However, as she served to consolidate the break, Li appear to have lost the plot as she was soon down 0-40. Sharapova needed no other invitation for her first break of the match and things were even again. She held serve comfortably for 5-4 putting the pressure back onto Li to serve to stay in the set. Li found her A game again and not only held easily but earned two break points on Sharapova’s serve. This would have put Li in command to serve for the match at 6-5. Again, Li lost her way and squandered the break chances and Sharapova seized this golden opportunity to take control of the match. Li was able to force the tiebreaker but Sharapova took command early with a 4-0 lead. She got to 6-3 in breaker and despite Li’s late charge to disrupt this comeback, Sharapova was able to close out the set 7-6(5).
Errors continue to pour from Li’s racquet in the 3rd set and Sharapova applied the pressure to the reigning Australian Open champion. Sharapova broke in the opening game but Li broke back immediately. She was unable to hold serve again and the Russian converted another break point and held serve to lead 3-1 in the set. Sharapova quickly got through her next couple of service games and was able to break easily again the Li serve to close out the match 2-6 7-6 6-3. This is another instance of Li leading in the early parts of a big match and then faltering to lose; reminiscing of her loss at the 2014 Sony Ericsson Open final to Serena Williams.
Maria Sharapova Part 2 “I wouldn’t mind if it (on court coaching) didn’t exist”
In the press conference, Sharapova had this to say of the turnaround in the match, “I think it’s a combination of experience and kind of what you teach yourself and the motivation that you find inside of yourself to not letdown when you’re feeling things aren’t going the exact way that you wanted them to.” Sharapova added that focus is required to come back in a match as well as to stay ahead with a lead. Perhaps this is something Li should learn because this match should be cause for concern in her camp. It seems as though she is unable to finish matches against top players and her play becomes more erratic on big points. She only won a staggering 23% of her first serve points in the 3rd set compared to Sharapova who won 75%. Overall Li had committed 43 errors to 13 winners as oppose to Sharapova who had a 39:21 errors to winners’ ratio. Sharapova will face Agnieszka Radwanska tomorrow for a place in the final. The Polish number one player took out France’s Caroline Garcia 6-4 4-6 6-4.
