March 18, 2011
INDIAN WELLS ( California) USA: Caroline Wozniacki showed why she is No.1 at the BNP Paribas Open on Friday night. Top seed Caroline Wozniacki blasted her way into the Indian Wells final of the $4.5-million event with a 61 62 semifinal defeat three-time Grand Slam winner and a former No.1 Maria Sharapova. just one service hold in a ruthless display.
World number one Wozniacki demolished her Russian opponent 6-1, 6-2 in front of a crowd of about 7,000 at the BNP Paribas Open to set up a clash with France's Marion Bartoli.
Sharapova, the No.16 seed this fortnight, came out firing, taking the first two points off of aggressive returns and breaking the No.1-seeded Wozniacki in the opening game; although she stayed the aggressor throughout the match, Sharapova just couldn't keep it up against an in-form Wozniacki, her 41 unforced errors far outbalancing her 19 winners. Wozniacki cruised to victory, 6-1,6-2.
Maria Sharapova struggled hugely with her serve Friday as she made eight double faults and won just 43 percent of her first serve points in the 80-minute night match.
The Russian held serve just once, in the third game of the second set.
"I didn't feel it quite that well today,I didn't feel like I had enough pace on it, and then I tried to go for a little bit more,” Sharapova said. “I was making more errors and she was just a lot more consistent. She didn't really go for big serves, but she was just really consistent on it and made me play.” said Sharapova.
The 23-year-old has not reached the same heights since she had shoulder surgery in 2008 but feels she is improving. She has been working with her coach to try and revamp her serve.
"I'm getting there," Sharapova said. "I'm working a little bit on the serve stance. I think little by little you eventually feel more confident.
"Especially going from the first serve to the second serve and working on a few more spins. That's I think been the toughest challenge since my surgeries, is feeling the kick and then the slice. That came a little more naturally to me before."
Sharapova had shown flashes of her best in earlier matches, but her unforced error count was just too high against Wozniacki, who had 22 fewer than her with 19 errors. "That's her strength, and that's what she does best. She grinds her opponents," Sharapova said. "I rushed too many of my shots today. Sometimes I just missed by a few inches, and sometimes I should have been more patient."
In late 2008, Sharapova had right shoulder surgery, and admits that she doesn't have the same feel on her serve that she did when she was dominating the tour.
As lopsided as the score was, it wasn't the worst performance by Sharapova in a semifinal in the BNP Paribas Open. The worst loss of Sharapova's career came in the 2005 semifinals here, when she got drummed by Lindsay Davenport 6-0, 6-0.
Sharapova is now 1-3 in BNP Paribas Open semifinals. Her one victory came in the 2006 semifinal, where she beat former No. 1 Martina Hingis en route to her lone title at the BNP Paribas Open.
Maria was already looking forward to Miami next week. "It's great to go and play again next week. I haven't played in Miami in many years. It'll be nice. I would have liked to go farther here, but I have another one next week."
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