Sharapova reaches French Open final
Overpowers Bouchard 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 at Roland Garros.
Sharapova won the French Open in 2012 and lost to Serena Williams in last year’s final. PHOTO: AFP
PARIS:
Maria Sharapova reached the final of the French Open for the third straight year at Roland Garros on Thursday, digging deep to see off the youthful challenge of Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard.
The 27-year-old, seventh seed once again did it the hard way, battling back from a set down to edge the 20-year-old from Montreal 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in a match full of beefy baseline shot-making.
It was the 19th time in a row that the never-say-die Sharapova had won a three-set match on clay, dating back to a loss against Justine Henin at Roland Garros in 2010.
For the fast-rising Bouchard, it represents the second time she has reached a Grand Slam semi-final, after this year’s Australian Open, and the second time she has failed to go a step further, having lost to eventual champion Li Na in Melbourne.
“She played an unbelievable match,” said Sharapova. “Her level was extremely high today and I am just fortunate to be the winner.
“I would prefer to win in two sets, but she started so well. It was tough losing the first set, but that’s not when the match is over.”
Both players had been guilty of slow starts earlier in the tournament, but the quality from both was high from the start as the sunshine returned to light up the centre court.
Meanwhile, Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Jean-Julian Rojer of the Netherlands won the French Open mixed doubles title on Thursday with a 4-6, 6-2 (10/7) win over Julia Goerges of Germany and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia.
Roland Garros was the first time that Groenefeld and Rojer had played together and the first time that the Dutchman was playing in a Grand Slam final.
The pair staved off match points in their semi-final win and they were soon up against it again against eighth seeded Goerges and Zimonjic after losing the first set.
But they battled back to level the match and were always ahead in the match tie-break.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 6th, 2014.
Maria Sharapova reached the final of the French Open for the third straight year at Roland Garros on Thursday, digging deep to see off the youthful challenge of Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard.
The 27-year-old, seventh seed once again did it the hard way, battling back from a set down to edge the 20-year-old from Montreal 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in a match full of beefy baseline shot-making.
It was the 19th time in a row that the never-say-die Sharapova had won a three-set match on clay, dating back to a loss against Justine Henin at Roland Garros in 2010.
For the fast-rising Bouchard, it represents the second time she has reached a Grand Slam semi-final, after this year’s Australian Open, and the second time she has failed to go a step further, having lost to eventual champion Li Na in Melbourne.
“She played an unbelievable match,” said Sharapova. “Her level was extremely high today and I am just fortunate to be the winner.
“I would prefer to win in two sets, but she started so well. It was tough losing the first set, but that’s not when the match is over.”
Both players had been guilty of slow starts earlier in the tournament, but the quality from both was high from the start as the sunshine returned to light up the centre court.
Meanwhile, Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Jean-Julian Rojer of the Netherlands won the French Open mixed doubles title on Thursday with a 4-6, 6-2 (10/7) win over Julia Goerges of Germany and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia.
Roland Garros was the first time that Groenefeld and Rojer had played together and the first time that the Dutchman was playing in a Grand Slam final.
The pair staved off match points in their semi-final win and they were soon up against it again against eighth seeded Goerges and Zimonjic after losing the first set.
But they battled back to level the match and were always ahead in the match tie-break.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 6th, 2014.