Maria Sharapova stormed into the third round of Wimbledon, losing a total of just four games in her first two matches. The fifth-seeded Russian beat British world No.247 Samantha Murray 6-1 6-0 in the opening round and today continued the confident progress with a 6-2 6-1 victory over Swiss world No.85 Timea Bacsinszky in exactly one hour, which marks her 40th career win at Wimbledon, the tournament where she made a breakthrough a decade ago by claiming the title as a then little-known 17-year-old.
Women’s tennis has changed a lot since the time Masha lifted the Venus Rosewater Dish, but this #tbt photo I’m featuring wouldn’t suggest the same. In the 2004 Wimbledon final Sharapova defeated Serena Williams 6-1 6-4 and ten years later the two are still ruling the big tennis stages. Actually, just like Sharapova, today Serena advanced to the third round with a ruthless 6-1 6-1 victory over Chanelle Scheepers. There’s one important thing to note, though: this was the last year when Sharapova managed to defeat Serena, having lost to her 15 straight times since 2004.
Here’s a nice highlight from the legendary final, when Sharapova became the fourth-youngest Grand Slam champion in the Open Era after Martina Hingis, Monica Seles and Tracy Austin:
