July 30, 2010
Maria beat Elena Dementieva of Russia 6-4 2-6 6-3 at Stanford in a tough match that lasted 2 hours and 45 minutes and will face #3 seed Agniesezka Radwanska in the semis.
Dementieva took a 3-2 lead with a break of serve in the first set, Maria then came storming back to take next 3 games to lead 5-2. Maria was broken serving for the match but she composed herself and broke Dementieva to win the first 6-4 when Dementieva hit a shot long.
In the second set, Dementieva was more aggressive on the return and Maria missed some key points that gave Dementieva an early break.
Maria had multiple chances to break back but couldn't convert and ended up losing the set 2-6.
In the third set, Maria started off very aggressive in her return game. She attacked Dementieva's second serve and played to her opponent's weakest side, the backhand.
Maria got a break but then, she double faulted and committed some unforced errors and Dementieva got the break back.
But Maria kept fighting and attacking and was able to break for a 5-3 lead, after some fantastic rallies in which both players played at a very high level.
Serving for the match. Maria jumped to a 30-0 lead, but a winner from Dementieva and an error from Maria made it 30-30. Maria did not lose her composure, she kept playing her aggressive game and was finally able to finish off the match.
After the win, Maria said: "I just wasn't swinging through well today; sometimes my arm just doesn't want to swing. I didn't want to take too much off the serve because that was not going to get me anywhere. I just wanted to find it the right way and keep going forward. Today was one of those days were I made a few more errors than I should have, but in the beginning that is actually what saved me because I wasn't making many balls in the court from any side. I was trying to find the right balance to win the match."
"When things are not going that well, you just try to keep doing the right thing and ultimately you will get your chances. I got them and picked them up. That's what I needed to do in order to win the match. At the end of the day, that is the most important thing. You can only learn from the match itself. Hopefully tomorrow I can go out and not have to wait for such a long time and lose five games in a row to start figuring things out."
"I think it's tough to feel perfect all the time. One of the toughest things in the game itself is keeping your concentration and focus. You know that if you play a few good games, you are likely to have a bit of a letdown. It's not really about the kind of letdown you have, it's more about how you get yourself out of it. You want to think clearly out there about what you need to do and stay positive."
"She (Radwanska) is a great retriever and a challenging player because she is very tricky. She has a lot of different tricks in her bag. She can play really aggressive or mix it up and throw a change of pace. I will really have to be on top of my game."
In the semifinals, Maria will face #3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland on Saturday. The match will start at 19.30PT.
Resources : http://www.mariasharapova.com/
|
Subscribe
