Sharapova, Serena ease into quarters

Nadal through to last-eight at Madrid Masters.

MADRID:

World number one Serena Williams cruised into the Madrid Open quarter-finals as she dismantled 13th-seed Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-1 in just an hour and four minutes.

Williams did not even face a break point during the match as she steamrollered the Russian, dropping only one more game from 3-3 in the first set.

The second set was straight forward for the 15-time Grand Slam champion as she raced into a 5-0 lead and then served out in style to book her place in the last-eight, where she will face Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues.

Adjustments made to game

Williams believes taking some pace off her serve to get a higher percentage of first serves into court helped her relax and play more fluently than in her earlier rounds.

“I’ve just been missing a little bit of my serve when I was hitting it harder, so I took some pace off and just didn’t hit it as hard as I usually do,” she said.

“It was better today. I just felt really relaxed. I felt like I was just taking my time so hopefully I can keep calm and relaxed.”

The American is unbeaten on clay in eight matches so far this season, but after a similarly positive start to last season on the clay was followed by shocking loss in the first round of the French Open, she says she has learned not to get overconfident ahead of Paris, where she will head at the end of this month.



“I think more than anything I learned not to become overconfident. I think I’ll just take that with me to the French this year. I think I was a little confident last year and I felt really good — this year I’m going to take every moment like it’s my last.”

Sharapova books berth

World number two Maria Sharapova, who has yet to drop a set, continued her stroll into the quarter-finals as she overcame Sabine Lisicki 6-2, 7-5.

The Russian, who could overtake Williams at the top of the rankings should she win the title this week, broke the German’s serve four times to prevail in a disjointed opening set.

Serve was more dominant in the second set with both players exchanging just the one break early on before Sharapova secured a crucial second break at 5-5 and served it out to take her place in the last eight.

The reigning French Open champion believes her game on the clay is rounding into shape nicely as she prepares to begin the defence of her title.

“I think when you win a Grand Slam on a surface, it would be pretty mean of me to say that I’m not comfortable there,” said Sharapova. “It took me many years to get to the level where I am today. It certainly didn’t happen overnight.

“I worked extremely hard on getting stronger and recovering better, moving better on the court, giving myself a better position on the court, especially after being on the defensive and trying to play aggressively as I always do on quicker surfaces.”

In other results, Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues won her third-round match against Yaroslava Shvedova after the Kazakhstan player retired.

Nadal breezes into quarters

In the men’s singles draw, Rafael Nadal booked his passage into the quarter-finals as he saw off Mikhail Youzhny 6-2, 6-3 in just under an hour and 15 minutes. The world number five started brightly and broke the Russian to move 2-1 in front in the first set.

Another blistering forehand down the line opened up another two break points for the Spaniard with Youzhny serving at 2-4 and a drop shot at the net secured the double break before two big serves closed out the set in the next game.

An error strewn game from Youzhny then handed the 11-time Grand Slam champion another early break in the second set, but after staving off a break point on his own serve at 2-1, Nadal was broken for the first time in the match as Youzhny levelled at 3-3.

Nadal broke again straight away, though, to ease towards the finishing line and he sealed victory in typical fashion as he scampered to retrieve a Youzhny dropshot before flashing a backhand crosscourt winner.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2013.