Madrid Open: Sharapova makes it to the quarter-finals

Defending champion survives opponent Garcia’s challenge.

MADRID: Holder Maria Sharapova needed more than two-and-a-half hours of battle to see off a challenge from Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia on Wednesday, with the third seed finally posting a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 win to advance to the quarter-finals of the Madrid Masters.

Sharapova ended the dramatic third-round match with an ace, which had to be confirmed from the chair.

The 28th-ranked Garcia, clearly peeved to have missed her chance against the five-time Grand Slam winner, gave an abbreviated “drive-by” handshake as the players met for a few quick seconds at the net, following protocol in name only.

Sharapova is fighting to regain the number two WTA ranking that she lost last month with an early defeat in Stuttgart and needs to reach the final to have a chance of standing second again behind Serena Williams.

The Russian started 2015 by winning 17 of her first 18 matches in 2015, but came to Madrid having lost three in a row. She has now won 57 of her last 62 matches on clay.

Meanwhile, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, the fourth seed, advanced with ease over Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 6-4 with the Czech confirming that her clay game is still not where she wants it.

Romanian Irina Begu beat Barbora Strycova 6-4, 6-4 to next take on Kvitova. “It’s still taking some time to get to know each other well, and then we can start dating,” joked the Czech about her “reacquaintance” with clay.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2015.

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