Near miss for Sharapova in Madrid Open

Eighth seed drops set before rallying to enter third round.

MADRID: Russian star Maria Sharapova avoided a second-round exit at the Madrid Open as she claimed a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory over American Christina McHale, advancing to the third round on Tuesday.

The former world number one won her first tournament of the season on her return to clay in Stuttgart two weeks ago, and looked in fine form as she raced through the first set 6-1.

However, McHale went onto take the second 6-4 and led 4-1 in the decider. Sharapova then responded well under pressure to reel off five straight games.

The Russian, though, was still far from happy with her overall performance.

“After a really good start I didn’t keep that level,” said the eighth seed. “I didn’t keep doing what I was doing. I think I had a bit of a let-down.

“I didn’t create any chances for myself on her [McHales’] serves.”

Earlier, Australian Open champion Li Na had a simpler task as she swept aside fellow Chinese Zheng Jie 6-2, 6-3.

Zheng led the head-to-head record between the two 4-3 before the match, but Li has now won the last four meetings between the pair in straight sets and will face 16th seed Sloane Stephens in the next round.

Federer withdraws from Madrid

Roger Federer became the second of the world’s top four to pull out of the Madrid Open on Tuesday as he has decided to stay at home with his wife Mirka as they await the birth of their third child.

The 17-time Grand Slam champion’s withdrawal comes just two days after world number two Novak Djokovic also decided not to compete in the Spanish capital due to a wrist injury.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2014.

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