The final score of Maria Sharapova's stunning loss in the French Open quarterfinals yesterday did not look quite as embarrassing as it could have: Her opponent led 6-0, 5-0.
That Sharapova saved a match point in the 12th game and wound up delaying her defeat for 15 minutes was of no consolation. All that mattered was that her bid to complete a career Grand Slam this year ended when she was beaten, 6-0, 6-2, by 20th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova.
I don't really care about numbers. It's either a 'W' or an 'L' and I prefer 'W', " said Sharapova, who suffered her most lopsided defeat at a major tournament.
Sharapova had right shoulder surgery in October and had played four three-set matches at Roland Garros in her first major tournament in nearly a year. "You can only ask your body to do so much," she said.
Her absence from the tour dropped her ranking outside the top 100. Still, as a former No. 1 and a three-time major champion, Sharapova was expected to beat Cibulkova, a 20-year-old Slovak who was making her Grand Slam quarterfinal debut.
Now the 5-foot-3-inch Cibulkova - 11 inches shorter than Sharapova - faces the current No. 1, Dinara Safina, who overcame a shaky start to defeat No. 9 Victoria Azarenka, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.
No. 23 Robin Soderling ran his career-best winning streak to eight matches by handling two-time French Open semifinalist Nikolay Davydenko, 6-1, 6-3, 6-1. Soderling next meets No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez, who also reached his first semifinal here with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 win over No. 3 Andy Murray.
No comments:
Post a Comment