Story ProgressBack to home
Sharapova advances at Roland Garros
Maria Sharapova eased her way into the third round beating Jill Craybas of the United States 6-2, 6-1 Thursday.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: June 01, 2007 10:30 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Paris:
The second-seeded Russian, still feeling a shoulder injury that caused her to miss about two months of action, beat Jill Craybas of the United States 6-2, 6-1 Thursday.
"It's still there at times," Sharapova said, referring to soreness in her right shoulder. "For one week I couldn't do anything. I couldn't really move my shoulder up and down because there was a significant amount of pain."
Sharapova still doesn't feel comfortable with her movement.
"I feel like a cow on ice. Especially on clay," Sharapova said. "I don't play on clay for the other 10 months of the year. It's not as natural for me."
Craybas quickly noticed that Sharapova's game was below par.
"I don't think she was hitting her serve 100 percent," Craybas said. "Pretty much doing second serves all the time."
Sharapova has yet to win a title this year. She has 15 career titles and lost to Serena Williams in the final of the Australian Open.
The 20-year-old Russian - a two-time Grand Slam champion - also reached the semifinals at Tokyo and Istanbul, Turkey.
Sharapova reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros in 2004 and 2005, and lost in the fourth round last year.
"She competed very well the whole match," Craybas said. "She had a few loose errors, but that didn't distract her."
While Craybas thinks it's still too early to tell whether Sharapova can win at Roland Garros, she won't rule it out.
"It's dangerous in general to underestimate her," Craybas said. "She's still one of the best in the world."
Serving below her best, Maria Sharapova eased her way into the third round of the French Open - sore shoulder and all.The second-seeded Russian, still feeling a shoulder injury that caused her to miss about two months of action, beat Jill Craybas of the United States 6-2, 6-1 Thursday.
"It's still there at times," Sharapova said, referring to soreness in her right shoulder. "For one week I couldn't do anything. I couldn't really move my shoulder up and down because there was a significant amount of pain."
Sharapova still doesn't feel comfortable with her movement.
"I feel like a cow on ice. Especially on clay," Sharapova said. "I don't play on clay for the other 10 months of the year. It's not as natural for me."
Craybas quickly noticed that Sharapova's game was below par.
"I don't think she was hitting her serve 100 percent," Craybas said. "Pretty much doing second serves all the time."
Sharapova has yet to win a title this year. She has 15 career titles and lost to Serena Williams in the final of the Australian Open.
The 20-year-old Russian - a two-time Grand Slam champion - also reached the semifinals at Tokyo and Istanbul, Turkey.
Sharapova reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros in 2004 and 2005, and lost in the fourth round last year.
"She competed very well the whole match," Craybas said. "She had a few loose errors, but that didn't distract her."
While Craybas thinks it's still too early to tell whether Sharapova can win at Roland Garros, she won't rule it out.
"It's dangerous in general to underestimate her," Craybas said. "She's still one of the best in the world."
Topics mentioned in this article
Tennis Andy Roddick Lukas Dlouhy Rohan Bopanna Leander Paes Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi Maria Sharapova
Get the Latest IPL 2024 Updates, check out IPL 2024 schedules and IPL points table at NDTV Sports.Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for more sports updates. You can also download the NDTV Cricket app for Android or iOS.