March 28, 2011
Former World No. 1 Maria Sharapova upturn in fortune and continued her dominance over the Australian Samantha Stosur and continued with a 6-4 6-1 defeat of Sam Stosur in the fourth round. And improved her record to 7-0 against her by earning a straight sets victory at the Crandon Park on Monday of the Sony Ericsson Open.
The Russian has been beset by injuries in recent years, but said last week that she was finally injury free and looking to get her career back on track. She impressed in disposing of Sabine Lisicki in the previous round and continued the good work against Stosur.
Sharapova was still shaky on serve, she surrendered an early break and had to stave off a string of break points. But the forehand was as clinical as ever and her groundstrokes enabled her to reel off her seventh win without reply against Stosur.
took 51 minutes for Maria Sharapova of Russia to win the first set against Samantha Stosur of Australia. But once the Russian got into groove, she clinched the second-set in 31 minutes and beat the Australian in straight sets with a 6-4 6-1 score line to reach the quarterfinal of the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open, a WTA Premier Event, being played here in Miami.
Sharapova won the match in 1 hour and 21 minutes. Though the Russian committed 27 unforced errors, but she made up for them with the help of 22 winners, as compared to Stosur’s 12 winners. Sharapova also converted 5 out of 9 break points to surge through.
Sharapova won the first set in 50 minutes, as the Russian converted 2 out of 4 break points and mustered 55% points on her first serve. Sharapova fired 2 aces and hammered 13 winners. On the other hand, Stosur could only convert 1 out of 4 break points and lost the first set.
Stosur managed to hold on to the first game of the second-set, but then lost six games in a row – in the end and lost another match to the mighty Russian.
After the early sparring, the contest turned Sharapova's way in the eighth game. Stosur worked a couple of break points but Sharapova saved them both with brilliant forehand drives down the line that clipped the paint. And to assert her dominance, she held with a whipped crosscourt forehand.
The set went Sharapova's way when Stosur pulled a forehand into the tramlines and the Australian had no answer to her opponent's power in the second set. Whether it be on forehand or backhand, Sharapova climbed into anything remotely short by Stosur.
Stosur was pushed further behind the baseline and this just opened up the court for Sharapova to find some stunning angles. The Russian did not pass up the chance to kill off the match after opening up a double break cushion and she cruised to victory with a third break of serve.
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