Five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova, who advanced to the semifinals of the Shenzhen Open on Thursday has made no secret of her desire to meet World No. 1 Simona Halep in the final.
Sharapova, who needed only 89 minutes to defeat Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-3 for a place in the last 4 of the key Australian Open warm-up event, also acknowledged that she was still far away from her best and needed to improve in a number of areas if she is to challenge the current crop of top-10 players.
“I didn’t play my best tennis and there’s certainly a lot of things to improve on in the next (match),” said Sharapova.
“The great thing is that I’m through and have another chance to play tomorrow.”
The former World No. 1’s win over Diyas was special as she regained her spot in the top-50 of the WTA rankings but assured that it wasn’t her prime goal at the moment.
“Those are not things I usually think about going into a match. So obviously statistically it’s nice to be back in that ranking but there’s a lot more things to work on,” said the Siberian Siren.
“Although it was a straight-sets victory I still believe that there’s a lot more I can improve on, looking forward and looking ahead as the challenges get tougher and as you get deeper in the field and also looking ahead towards the rest of the season.”
“We both have one more tough match in front of us before we make it to the final, but these are the types of meetings everyone is waiting for, not only the players but also the public and tournament organizers. Of course I want to play against the world number one and if this happens in the final it’s great,” Sharapova said.
Asked to comment on the Russian diva’s thoughts, Halep said: “I don’t think about the final, I think of what happens tomorrow, I have a tough match. I know Irina well, but I am ready to fight. If I reach the final again, I will be very happy.”
