March 15, 2011
Maria is the last player through to the quarter-finals at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells as she has won a spectacular victory over fellow Russian Dinara Safina of Russia in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California on Tuesday night. Sharapova faced no real challenge at all from her opponent, concluding a comprehensive straight sets victory 6-2, 6-0 in just 61 minutes .
Sharapova registered her fifth win of the running WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) season and bettered the head-to-head record against Safina to 4-3 with her win at the Indian Wells. The 18th seed looked in sublime form and completely blew away her opponent to book a berth in the quarter-final round of the Paribas Open.
Maria talks about the match: "It was a little unfortunate I didn't win the first game. After that, though, I felt like I stepped it up. I put a lot of pressure on her from the first ball so she would feel on the defense. That was really important for me tonight. This was one of the first tournaments she's starting to play a lot better and find her form. That's dangerous because confidence is a huge thing. You can go out on the court and just swing away. I wanted to take care of business."
The world number 18 Sharapova proved better than her country fellow in every segment of the game, giving no chances to Safina to have an impact over the contest. She served brilliantly with 75 per cent accuracy and took 26 out of 33 first serve points in the game. Sharapova crafted 10 break opportunities and converted six out of them to oust her opponent.
With a high error count on her part, it was always difficult for Safina to survive against tough competitors like Sharapova. Safina coughed up eight double faults in the match and won just 35 per cent total points to record a loss. She broke her opponent once in the first set, but her unforced errors on critical occasions led her down in the contest.
Sharapova had an aggressive start to the contest, capitalizing upon the sloppy start form Safina by striking two immediate serve breaks to lead 4-1 in the opener. Safina finally broke the shackles in the sixth game to break her opponent, only to be broken in the very next game to trail 2-5. The powerful Sharapova forehand sealed off the first set at 6-2 in just opening 37 minutes of play.
The Russian kept her winning momentum in the second set, breaking Safina’s serve in every game. Sharapova served with 83 per cent accuracy in the second set and cracked three consecutive break points to rocket away to 5-0 in barely 20 minutes. She concluded her assertive victory by serving out of the match at 6-0, booking a place in the quarter-finals.
Sharapova will square off against the unseeded Chinese, Shuai Peng in the quarter-final of the BNP Paribas Open. Peng defeated the 18th seed Russian, Nadia Petrova 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, to reach the quarter-final of the tournament.
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