ЮСО: Претенденты - Шарапова
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US OPEN CONTENDERS: SHARAPOVA
All week on wtatennis.com we'll be looking at some of the biggest contenders for the US Open, which kicks off in less than a week. First up: Maria Sharapova.
Published August 18, 2014 12:15
NEW YORK, NY, USA - When looking at the favorites for the US Open, the obvious first place to look is who has done the most during the year so far - and in 2014's case, that would be Maria Sharapova.
She may be No.6 on the WTA Rankings at the moment, but on the Road To Singapore leaderboard, the year-long journey to the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global and the accumulation of the points a player has earned since the start of the year, Sharapova's No.1, her three WTA titles on the year all coming in the clay court season at Stuttgart, Madrid and Roland Garros.
And there's more - Sharapova has won the US Open before, flourishing in Flushing Meadows as a 19-year-old back in 2006. That, incidentally, made her the last teenager to win a Grand Slam title.
There could be a few things weighing on her mind, though. Since the aforementioned title run in 2006 she has been to seven more Grand Slam finals, including at least once at each of the other three majors, but never again at this one. And her hardcourt lead-up didn't go exactly to plan, falling in the third round of Montréal and the semifinals of Cincinnati, putting together a 4-2 win-loss record in the process - and she even needed to go to three sets to get three of those four match wins.
But nobody turns a negative into a positive like Sharapova. Her last two matches in Cincinnati are the perfect example - after losing the first set against Simona Halep she rallied from 2-0 down in both the second and third sets to win, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, and she almost came back from a 6-2, 4-0 deficit against Ana Ivanovic, eventually holding match points in the third before finally succumbing to the Serb.
"I feel like I've played enough matches - I definitely would've loved to play another one, but it just didn't happen that way," Sharapova said after the Ivanovic match. "But overall I got through some tough ones. From the first round on it hasn't been easy for me here in Cincinnati, right up until the last point, actually. But I certainly hope to raise my level moving forward. I'm capable of many things."
Sharapova was asked what her next steps will be ahead of the last Grand Slam of the year.
"This week will just be about working on a few things, getting out on the practice court, making sure I do the right things, both physically and mentally," she said. "You usually have appearances in New York leading into the Open, so it's also about managing your time and being fresh for the beginning."
Watch some highlights from her 2006 US Open final victory against Justine Henin below...
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