As 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova exited on the first day of the US Open, another alarm started flashing when 2011 Wimbledon finalist Maria Sharapova lost the first set 6-3 and was broken at the very start of the second by 19-year-old world No.104 Briton Heather Watson.
Watson, the 2009 junior champion, was playing in the main draw of the US Open for the first time and was close to producing the biggest shock of the tournament, as the third-seeded Sharapova is considered one of the Top 2 favorites, beside Serena Williams.
Sharapova’s serve was erratic and Watson was keeping up with the Russian’s heavy groundstrokes. Still Sharapova managed to grind out a 3-6 7-5 6-3 victory and advance to the second round.
Kvitova famously made 52 unforced errors in her first round loss, but Sharapova committed even more, 58. The Russian balanced them with 41 winner to Watson’s only 9 winners.
This was close. Without doubt, Maria played horribly, her preparation for shot was bed,and so was her serve, but I think she was just nervous because of the tournament start and pressure of favorite. :/
I like Sharapova, I would like to see her win, but the battle that Watson put up was really great, I would have wanted her to win. Also I consider it to be a mental battle for how good you can adjust yourself during the game and restrain yourself from making unforced mistakes. I consider tennis mostly a battle with yourself, cause if you are young and have the physical ability, the only thing that stands in your way is yourself !
I really think this US OPEN is going to one that we will remember for a long time, the players are very ambitious and motivated, so I think we do not have a designated winner just yet !
i think that’s because she didn’t get enough practice a few days before us open because of huricaneirene. and the weather was really hot. my guess the reason why maria always said that she feel very comfort in night match is because the weather. I remember vika had collaps last year in us open day match.