Sharapova Sharp in Pounding of Petrova
by Ben Rothenberg on Jul 30, 2009 6:21 AM EDT
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For all the talk about how the WTA rankings don't work because of who is currently ranked #1, there's not nearly enough discussion about how they don't work because of who is ranked #62.
Maria Sharapova absolutely trounced world #10 Nadia Petrova on Wednesday in the second round of Stanford, by the score of 6-1, 6-2, in a match that lasted just 61 minutes.
Sharapova won 70% of points on her serve, which is very impressive. She also won 54% of points when returning, which against a powerful top-ten opponent is absolutely nuts.
Here are some scary stats on the current world #62's record on hard courts, a surface which, as I noted after Wimbledon, has definitely become a more comfortable medium for her than grass.:
- Distant as it seems, Sharapova actually won the last hard court slam she entered, the 2008 Australian Open. Seeded fifth, her lowest seeding at a major since 2004, Sharapova beat the #1 (Henin), #3 (Jankovic) and #4 (Ivanovic) players on her way to the title. She's also won two of the last four hard court slams she's entered, going back to her 2006 US Open title.
- Because she missed ten months due to shoulder surgery, the last time she had the chance to play on hard courts was during the early part of 2008 that included that Australian Open. Sharapova went 18-1 on the hard stuff between January and March 2008. Her first tournament back on the hard stuff since March 2008? Stanford 2009.
- Not counting Flushing Meadows itself, Sharapova has won her last ten US Open Series matches , and 20 of her last 21, a dominance that stretches all the way back to 2005.
Sharapova likely faces Venus Williams in the quarterfinals at Stanford on Friday. While I don't think anyone would give her too much of a chance to beat Venus (despite her career 3-0 record vs. the elder Williams on hard courts), it will be an interesting test of just how far Sharapova has left to climb.
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Sharapova's serve?
First off, great read, thanks Ben…Did you by any chance get wind of what speed her first serves were being hit at? At Wimbledon, commentators made a big deal of the fact that she was usually below 110 and often right around 100. I wonder if it’s just a matter of time for the serve to hit the 115’s and 120’s again. Without that she’ll be much more prone to ups and downs, even on hard courts.
It’s great to have her back, and the Bank of the West at Stanford, with 4 top 10’s and 8 top 20’s in the draw is definitely the hottest ticket of the week.
I think on the men’s side, of all three tourneys, Davydenko is the only top-10 player in action. Everybody else is still trying to work out the kinks from the clay and grass seasons.
Can't Agree More!
Love the post, Ben! Pending further injury, Maria will continue to improve. The main factor seems to beher serve at this point. It just needs to become solid again. It was never gigantic. But she would always have a great second serve and great placement on her first serve that was only around the 115s in speed. But lately her serve has been a liability, putting her on the defense during points and leading to DF after DF.
Her match against Venus will certainly answer a lot of questions pertaining to Maria’s form…
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