World No.6 Maria Sharapova defeated Russian compatriot Anna Chakvetadze 6-2 6-2 on Saturday at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid.
World No.7 Chakvetadze started the match well, winning her first service game and even having a break point on Sharapova’s serve. However, Sharapova won the game with a fantastic second serve to even the score to 1-1. Since then, the 20-year-old Sharapova broke her opponent twice and took a 4-1 lead. This vividly demotivated Chakvetadze, and it became clear that the first set was over for her.
The second set was a continuation of a desperate situation for Anna Chakvetadze. Sharapova had an opportunity to break her opponent in the first game of the set! And what happened…Chakvetadze gave away her first service game by foot faulting and then making her second double fault. Chances of Chakvetadze bringing back her mental strength and hope then became minimal.
In this match, Sharapova obviously showed much better tennis than Chakvetadze, but Chakvetadze could have increased her chances only if she had converted some of five break points she had.
Even though she lost this semifinal, Anna Chakvetadze can be very satisfied with what she has achieved, both at the tournament in Madrid and in 2007 season.
