Maria Sharapova returns to familiar grounds with another win a the Tianjin Open Saturday. The 30 year old advanced to her first final since being suspended defeating Shuai Peng 6-3, 6-1 on Centre Court at the Tianjin Tuanbo International Tennis Centre. It became her 58th career final and the first since Brisbane that Sharapova would have a chance to capture.
This was a seventh meeting between the two with Sharapova favorably in control of the series with Peng. The 30 year old has a four match winning streak against her opponent with most coming in Grand Slams. While she hasn’t had time to compete in one, the Russian stood two matches from capturing her first title since winning Brisbane in 2015. While the points would increase her stand in the rankings, the success of her run through the tournament so far has been one without dropping a single set looking to do the same in the semifinal.
She and Peng went along with the flow through the first six games holding serve till the wild card made her move. By the seventh, Sharapova had everything in control bringing an end to the set with victory in 41 minutes. Out of all the sets the Russian played, she finished against Peng with a stunning 94 percent on the first serve winning 14 of 15.
The second fared much better for the former world number one as she played like such against Peng who had lost the answers to counteract Sharapova. She took off with the lead, never looking back once after breaking the early tie with Peng. It only took her 37 minutes to get the job done for her fourth straight sets match win in the tournament and move briskly into Sunday’s semifinal.
“The finals are the stage that I want to be at and where I want to do well,” Sharapova said after the match. “It has been a long road, so this is very rewarding, but I also know I have another match to play, so as much as I want to be happy and content, I know that I have an ambitious opponent for me.”
She would indeed meet an ambitious player in 19 year old Belarussian Aryna Sabalenka who dominated with similar results against Sara Errani. She had also held her last four to straight sets making Sunday’s final very interesting for the veteran taking on a young and upcoming star in the sport.
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