Former world number one, Maria Sharapova, is not just a style icon on the tennis court and she is here to prove it all over again in the French Open 2011.The Russian ace, seeded 7 in the tournament, meant business and it was evdent all over her face and body language when she took on Croatia's Mirjana Lucic today at court Philippe Chatrier.
Having achieved a recent mandatory title on clay, Sharapova was being considered a dangerous customer, as she started her campaign in the French Open. Fresh off from the victory at the Rome Masters, she was high on confidence and it showed clearly in the game. It would have been a surprise if she had to carry on till the third set and as expected, the heart-throb of millions, wrapped it up quite early in style with 6-3, 6-0.
Nevertheless, Lucic, with all her experience would not let it go without putting up a fight. Though undermined, the battle could have been fierce and was seen in the first set where the Russian had to fight her way through. Finally, at the end of the seventh game, the 24 year old got a lead. Winning the next match point at 40-0 she eventually seized the set 6-3.
Then there was no looking back. The former world No. 1 whistled through the second set without loosing a single game. As expected things were wrapped up within less than an hour at the end of the second set itself.
Though a bit jittery at the start, one could see the glimpses of her coming quite close to her best. Not to take away from the Croatian who showed a lot of character, but had to bow down to the favorite. Stakes are high and so are the expectations. This time she is not there just to show the world what she can, but also to prove a point or two to herself after a long dearth of titles. Will she be able to break the clay jinx and add yet another jewel to her crown - The French Open Title?
Having achieved a recent mandatory title on clay, Sharapova was being considered a dangerous customer, as she started her campaign in the French Open. Fresh off from the victory at the Rome Masters, she was high on confidence and it showed clearly in the game. It would have been a surprise if she had to carry on till the third set and as expected, the heart-throb of millions, wrapped it up quite early in style with 6-3, 6-0.
Nevertheless, Lucic, with all her experience would not let it go without putting up a fight. Though undermined, the battle could have been fierce and was seen in the first set where the Russian had to fight her way through. Finally, at the end of the seventh game, the 24 year old got a lead. Winning the next match point at 40-0 she eventually seized the set 6-3.
Then there was no looking back. The former world No. 1 whistled through the second set without loosing a single game. As expected things were wrapped up within less than an hour at the end of the second set itself.
Though a bit jittery at the start, one could see the glimpses of her coming quite close to her best. Not to take away from the Croatian who showed a lot of character, but had to bow down to the favorite. Stakes are high and so are the expectations. This time she is not there just to show the world what she can, but also to prove a point or two to herself after a long dearth of titles. Will she be able to break the clay jinx and add yet another jewel to her crown - The French Open Title?
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