Maria
Sharapova had one big way to return to the US Open Monday night. The 30 year
old who hasn’t been back in three years went the distance with Simona
Halep where she had more firepower, confidence and focus to win in three
sets 6-4, 4-6,
6-3 on Arthur Ashe Stadium. The unseeded star in her return to the Billy
Jean King National Tennis Center put together the biggest upset of the day
against the second seed. It was the 18th match she had won on center
court without a loss at night.
For the returning superstar, this was clearly her biggest
challenge putting her history with the Romanian aside. The wild card hasn’t
played a match in Flushing Meadows since 2014 and with her struggling with an
injury to make it back into the top 50, the Russian had the world number two in
the way. Halep went deep in the last two big tournaments before she was ousted
in the semis at Toronto and couldn’t secure the world number one in Cincinnati.
Despite not having the number one seed, her draw with Sharapova wasn’t the best
as the former number one holds a 6-0 history with the last taking place prior
to Sharapova’s absence from the sport. With an even chance of knocking out
Sharapova, Halep would no doubt be part of a highly anticipated match.
Sharapova started with a service hold followed by Halep’s
which was necessary in order to keep pace. The pace began slowly with each
player playing for every point possible. After three games, it was the Russian
up on the world number two who had a huge response when holding serve was
important. Halep got very tight between the two on deuce which included a
dramatic rally that kept her in it. When the intensity lowered, Sharapova put
down the hammer to secure the win and lead with a break.
Halep made it tough for Sharapova on the serve in the fifth
as she worked very hard to play the Russian’s game getting into the rally near
the net that allowed her to smash an unreturnable shot. Retaining the margin was
Sharapova who put together a good stance against the second seed to secure
another break. Halep kept the breaks coming with the fourth straight in the set
but changed the tide of control. She dealt out a service hold against Sharapova
that leveled the score through eight.
Holding serve in the late stages of the set was critical and
for Sharapova, gaining the leverage was key in the ninth as she was first to
act on taking the set away. Halep didn’t make it easy for her as they went to
deuce where the Romanian ran after every ball to stay in a lockdown situation. She
had two chances to get game point but Sharapova tugged away at gaining the
break which she did on the third break. It became the fifth game break of the
match and the one that allowed Sharapova to threaten the second seed after 60
minutes. Despite having three double faults and three times as many errors as
Halep, Sharapova’s serve was better on the first strike.
She opened the second set with a couple of winners that did
the trick to leading Halep. The second seed had a long service game in the next
game but despite the heavy adversity, she kept up with Sharapova on the score. The
Russian flew ahead in the third taking the win on serve and grew out a 4-1 hold
that quieted the fans of the Romanian who quickly saw their player’s demise.
Halep fired in the sixth to regain some ground but there was a lot still in her
path. She gained a huge break in the seventh with three break points before
capturing the win that put her a game down of Sharapova.
A very important hold of serve in the eighth came to Halep’s
hands as critical errors from Sharapova made it very difficult to gain the
opportunity to serve for it all. It still was a fight for the lead as the
Russian took point in the ninth where she saw Halep force deuce. Showing some
frustration, Halep went for the chance and capped her comeback with a double
fault. The world number two served at 5-4 but the pressure was heavy on her
shoulders.
She committed two unforced errors before Sharapova handed
her a point. It was still long balls landing behind the baseline but she
somehow climbed back to force deuce. They went four breaks with one another before
a challenged call gave her the much needed win to break for a time and prepare
to go the distance. Halep got the first serve to improve and created three
errors compared to Sharapova who had nine times more. It was a massive comeback
from being down 1-4 to challenge Sharapova all the way.
The challenge was getting on the board in the deciding set
as Halep saw Sharapova go on a runaway. She made it very difficult in the third
game leading 30-0 on the Russian. Sharapova made a full recovery and went for
the win on the break to capture a third win with some very dramatic rallies
near the net. The Romanian got a victory but still sat two games down on the
unseeded superstar.
It remained that way for the Russian at end conclusion of
the sixth as she kept the heat on and her eyes on the finish line. Sharapova
locked the seventh making it a 5-2 hold and a very difficult moment for the
second seed who was on the verge of an upset. She avoided elimination with a
service break but soon faced Sharapova who served for the match.
Halep was in a do or die situation where she got after every
ball including angling her racket on the return to get it back over. Sharapova
understood her opponent’s strategy and counteracted with hitting the ball where
Halep wasn’t. The two went to deuce in the game but with Sharapova being so
focused, she made her first match point count as the ball fell long of the
baseline ending a dramatic 2 hours and 44 minutes.
“I just thought this was another day, another opportunity,
another match but this was so much more and I didn’t want to think about it,” she
said to ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi. “ You never really know what you’ll feel until you
win that match point and you can’t really control your emotions or what goes
through your mind but you just figure that everything you go through is this
moment.”
“You sometimes wonder why you put in all the work and this
is exactly why.” Timea Babos becomes the next player to face the comeback girl
who she will see on Wednesday.
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