Sharapova surprised in Key Biscayne
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MARIA Sharapova is 0-5 in Key Biscayne finals. This year her loss came at the start.
Seeded No. 2, Sharapova was upset in her opening match on Thursday night by wildcard Daria Gavrilova, 7-6 (4), 6-3.
The 21-year-old Gavrilova, who was born in Moscow and is based in Australia, earned her first victory over a top-10 player with a poised, aggressive effort before a near-capacity stadium.
Sharapova said she went into the match knowing little about Gavrilova. But Gavrilova was well acquainted with the Siberia-born Sharapova. “I have been dreaming about beating Maria since I was probably 12, when I saw her win Wimbledon,” Gavrilova said. “She was my idol. She was just huge in Russia.”
Sharapova lost serve four times, struggled with her return and found herself in a succession of long rallies, thanks to the 5-foot-5 Gavrilova’s defensive skills.
“She runs a lot of balls down,” Sharapova said. “I was committing a lot of errors off of those balls, and not really staying patient and just going for too many winners.”
Sharapova trailed in the first set, rallied and again fell behind in the tiebreaker. She looked back ruefully on an easy overhead she netted on the next-to-last point of the set.
“That would have leveled it in the tiebreaker,” she said. “I would have loved to get that one back.”
Sharapova then fell behind 3-love in the second set and could never pull even. When she misfired on her final shot, Gavrilova did a pirouette and landed with a big grin.
Ranked 97th, Gavrilova cracked the top 100 this week for the first time. She’s making a comeback from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee in 2013.
Venus Williams began her 16th appearance at Key Biscayne by beating qualifier Urszula Radwanska 6-3, 6-2. Radwanska’s sister, Agnieszka, won, as did former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki.
Juan Martin del Potro, playing for the first time since January 15, lost in the first round to Vasek Pospisil, 6-4, 7-6 (7). Del Potro had been sidelined with a lingering left wrist injury.
“I don’t feel frustrated,” del Potro said. “I have to take the positive things on my comeback. The score doesn’t matter for now.”
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