Sharapova cruised into the third round of the first Grand Slam of the season on Wednesday (prize money is record $44 million).
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Sharapova powered past Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 6-2, 6-1, to roll into the Australian Open third round and celebrate her 50th Australian Open main-draw victory. The weather changes; one day it’s over 40 degrees Celcius, another day you need a parka! “I felt I was more confident with my left hand today”, Sharapova, runner-up previous year to Serena Williams, told reporters.
Playing her first match of 2016 after a sore forearm forced her out of the Brisbane International this month, the Russian hammered Japan’s Nao Hibino 6-1, 6-3 to make the second round of the Australian Open.
But the 28-year-old, last year’s beaten finalist, was in fine fettle after hours on the practice courts as she handed a tennis lesson to Hibino, who was making her grand slam debut.
Serving for the match at 5-2, Sharapova surrendered two match points to allow Hibino her one service break – but it only briefly extended what appeared to be inevitable, the Russian sealing it on her fourth match point with a stunning forehand victor.
The Russian was at her business-like best as she took just 73 minutes to outclass her Japanese opponent, who moved from outside the top 200 at the start of 2015 to her current ranking of world No.56.
She was particularly pleased with her scramble for a victor around the net, which she thought was the first of her career, but poured cold water on the idea of pulling off a between-the-legs trick shot in subsequent matches.
“I don’t think I made that many errors today”. She said she does remember playing here for the first time and later winning a title here. She lost to Williams in the semifinals at Wimbledon last summer, and she didn’t participate in any tournament until The Wuhan Open at the end of September.
“I don’t get attached to things, so I guess that’s good when you lose laundry”.
“No it (her knee) hasn’t been bothering me in a long time”.
No. 3 Garbine Muguruza and No. 7 Angelique Kerber advanced along with two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azerenka, who closed play on centre court with a 6-0, 6-0 rout of Alison Van Uytvanck. I’d say it was pretty mediocre today.
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“Any time someone is beating Venus they are more than likely playing really good”.
