Former world No.1 Maria Sharapova continues to banish her recent series of disappointing losses on the tour with a 7-5, 6-1, win over Irina Camila-Bega at the Madrid Open
Prior to this week, the Russian hasn’t won a match on the tour since the Australian Open. Her jinx ended over the weekend with a straight sets win over Mihaela Buzărnescu. Keeping the momentum going on Monday, Sharapova illustrated glimmers of her fighting spirit with a total of 21 winners to 24 unforced errors against world No.38 Begu. The Russian also benefited heavily from her rivals unforced error count of 19.
“It was a lot of hard work. Obviously, being down a break to start off both of those sets didn’t make things easy for me.” Said Sharapova. “Although I didn’t play at my best level in the first set, I pulled it through. I played some really tough points.”
In both sets Sharapova found herself battling from behind. At the start of the match she was immediately broken by the two-time Madrid Open quarter-finalist. She managed to turn her fortunes around midway through the opening set by breaking back for 3-3 before breaking once again four games later to close the set out.
A case of deja vu erupted in the second set with the five-time champion once again dropping her serve at the start. This time round, she responded in a more powerful and decisive manner. As Begu’s service motion fell apart, only managing to claim two out of 14 points. Enabling Sharapova to cruise towards the finish line. At one stage during the second set, she claimed 19 consecutive points.
“She’s a good player. I thought I really had to win the match today. I went in with that attitude. I think that was the best part of that match for me.” She said about her tactics sued in the match.
A time to reflect
The past couple months have been far from perfect for the 30-year-old. A left forearm injury forced her out of the Miami Open. At the same time doctors found that she had an ‘air pocket’ in her lung and wasn’t allowed to fly for three weeks. An air pocket is a situation where there is an abnormal collection of air in the pleural space between the lung and the chest wall.
Besides her health, the Russian has also made changes to her coaching set up. Departing from Sven Groeneveld to return to the guidance of Thomas Hogstedt. Somebody who previously mentored her between 2010-2013.
“It just took time for me reevaluate where I was, where my body was.” She reflected about her start to the season.
“I also made changes within my team, especially in that period of time, which was not easy. As I said before: There’s never a bad time to make a good change. You do hope that those changes lead to better things and good things. It’s not because the past necessarily wasn’t working, but because you believe that there could be better things to come.”
Sharapova will play 2017 runner-up Kristina Mladenovic in the third round. Mladenovic defeated China’s Zhang Shuai 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
“I think there’s a lot of variety off her backhand. She doesn’t like to hit through the backhand as much as she does on the forehand.” Sharapova said about the French player. “You see a lot more of her, especially on the defense, slicing and dropshotting. That’s not a secret because we’ve played against each other a few times, even though it’s been about a year.”
In their head-to-head, Sharapova is tied at 1-1.
