Maria Sharapova fires past Mary Pierce at Acura Classic
Posted by Aaress Lawless on Aug 4, 2006 | Print |
Maria Sharapova stormed past Mary Pierce today in the third quarterfinal match at the Acura Classic tennis tournament at California’s La Costa Spa and Resort, just outside of San Diego.
Sharapova dominated the match from the start and easily defeated Pierce in straight sets 6-2, 6-3.
I had a chance to catch this match live on ESPN2 and I must admit, I have never been so glad to see Cliff Drysdale and Pam Shriver. ESPN2 has been rotating its on-air personalities over the past few weeks, and it was nice to see announcers that actually had a background in tennis.
Sharapova looked excellent during this match, and I can hardly see her losing to Patty Schnyder in the semifinals tomorrow. She was moving well, her forehand was lethally accurate, and her confidence could not have been better. She broke Pierce’s serve four times during the 69 minute match and she only faced one break point on her serve.
Pierce’s comeback from injury did not see her successfully defending her title, but she still showed signs of promise as to whether she will be able to recapture the form she had last season. She struggled during her opening round match against Sybille Bammer, but she had no problems getting past Finland’s Emma Laine yesterday in the third round. Pierce is next entered in the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
Maria Sharapova will play Patty Schnyder in the semifinals of the Acura Classic tomorrow afternoon.
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