Maria Sharapova will forever confound notions of image. If tennis is the sport that embraces glamour, those regarded as the most beautiful invariably shy away from the glare. On day three of the Australian Open, there was no hiding place for Sharapova.
Under sustained pressure in the second round, the Russian with the long blonde hair recovered from hopelessness to save two match points and beat the world No150, Alexandra Panova, 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 on Rod Laver Arena. She will send shivers through the field, at least temporarily, when she emerges on Friday. Sharapova’s peers know she is up and running.
It is a towering paradox that the 27-year-old operates best when she is asked to play against type, getting down to the boring duty of chase and defend. “She likes to fight,” the 23-year-old Romanian Simona Halep said. “I admire her that she’s fighting until the very end. She’s always playing for every point. She’s a champion, and she knows how to manage every situation during a match.”
Sharapova was 3-5 down in the third set when she turned the contest around to save two break points and win the tie-break to love to destroy Panova, who makes a better living as Laura Robson’s partner on the outer limits of the doubles circuit.
It was a lopsided performance from the second seed, whose game seemed to desert her for a large part of the match. However, her customary grit and determination – combined with a shaky finish from her Russian compatriot – was enough to see her over the line.
“I’m just happy to get through,” a relieved Sharapova said after her 152-minute blowout. “I was not playing my best tennis. Twice I was one point away from being through in this tournament. But some times when you are not playing your best, it’s just good enough to get through – and that’s what I did today.”
She next plays Zarina Diyas, the 31st seed making serious noise on the Tour.
Many fans’ pick as a not-so-long-shot to win here, Halep moved on without hindrance, losing only four games in her match against the adopted Australian Jarmila Gajdosova (née Groth).
“I played much better than the first round tonight, so I’m happy,” Halep said. “I am more aggressive and I served very well. I played fast. I stayed very close to the baseline. I felt her big serve and big shots but I opened the court very well. I did some good angles, and I just wanted to finish the points, to make winners.”
Meanwhile, there remains some mystery over the decision by Serena and Venus Williams to withdraw from the women’s doubles competition before the first-round action had got under way.
Tennis Australia, which handles all of the withdrawals for the tournament, were unable to give a reason why the 13-times grand slam and three-times Olympic champions were unable to play their match against the 11th seeds, Anabel Medina Garrigues and Yaroslava Shvedova. Irina Falconi and Petra Martic took the Williams sisters’ place in the draw, though were beaten 6-3, 6-3 by the Spanish-Kazakh pairing.
Medina Garrigues and Shvedova will now face either the pairing of Kiki Bertens and Johanna Larsson or Mirjana Lucic-Baroni and Lisa Raymond.
