Carla Suárez Navarro Pushes Past Maria Sharapova In New York - UBITENNIS

Carla Suárez Navarro Pushes Past Maria Sharapova In New York

Sharapova hit more than twice as many unforced errors as winners.

By Cole Paxton
3 Min Read

Carla Suárez Navarro reached her seventh grand slam quarterfinal with a steady performance over an uneven Maria Sharapova, handing the five-time major champion a 6-4, 6-3 win at the US Open on Monday.

The Spaniard celebrated her 30th birthday with a convincing win on Arthur Ashe Stadium, breaking Sharapova six times and knocking off a player who committed 38 unforced errors to 15 winners. Suárez Navarro, for her part, won 55 percent of return points and limited her unforced errors to 20.

It was a disappointing event for Sharapova, who played imperfect tennis in the first three rounds and struggled mightily on Monday. She moved poorly and double faulted eight times, many in very ugly fashion, and handed the No. 30 seed several easy breaks.

But Suárez Navarro displayed some of her best form at the end, imitating a defensive wall to set up match point, then pushing a trademark one-handed backhand out of Sharapova’s reach to reach her second US Open quarterfinal.

“I’m really happy because I played a really good match,” the 30-year-old said on court. “I need to be aggressive. … Fighting, every time, I think this is the way I can play really good tennis.”

She displayed that game throughout Monday’s match, building early leads in each set and continuing to force the play. She won Sharapova’s first two service games with a combination of ugly errors from the Russian and timely groundstrokes of her own — at 1-3, Sharapova double faulted on three consecutive points, then Suárez Navarro unleashed a backhand winner for a second break.

Sharapova fought back, getting one break back, squeaking out a rare service hold and building a 0-30 lead on Suárez Navarro’s 5-4 service game. Fittingly for the match, however, Sharapova wasted her run of good play by stringing together four consecutive groundstroke errors to drop the set.

Sharapova, the No. 22 seed who won the title in New York a dozen years ago, played marginally better in the second set, but she never managed to clean up her errors. Suárez Navarro went ahead 3-2 by closing a long game with a rare forehand winner, and Sharapova could not convert two break points in the next game.

That would be the Russian’s last opportunity to reach a first US Open quarterfinal in six years. Instead, the Spaniard celebrates her 30th birthday with the last eight berth and a Wednesday matchup with Madison Keys.

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