Cincinnati 2011 Draw Released

August 12, 2011

The draw for Maria's third and final event before the US Open has been released.  Maria is playing the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati and is seeded No.4 and has a bye in the first round.  In the second round Maria will play either Polona Hercog of Slovenia or a qualifier.  Maria has never played the 40th ranked Slovenian before.

The first seed Maria can meet is No.14 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in the third round.  No.5 seed Li Na of China or Serena Williams are possible opponents in the quarters.  No.2 seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia and No.8 seed Marion Bartoli of France round off the draw in the bottom half.  World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and third seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus are both in the top half of the draw.

Maria has played this event once before and reached the final last year losing to Kim Clijsters of Belgium.  Cincinnati was played a week earlier last year so Maria has no points to defend this week.

Resources : http://www.mariasharapova.com/