Sharapova blows a kiss to the crowd after her victory over Anastasia Pivovarova.
An article from wimbledon.org on her win:
" There is a feeling among the experts that Maria Sharapova is once again approaching the kind of form that makes her a contender at Grand Slam events and judging by her tennis during her opening victory at the 2010 Championships she can look forward to a lengthy stay in SW19.
Perhaps Sharapova expected a tougher test against a player who had enjoyed a fabulous run at Roland Garros - she qualified and reached the third round. Pivovarova had impressed too during the qualifying event in Roehampton last week where she cruised through three matches for the loss of just ten games.
But against a player as focused and as effective as Sharapova on Wimbledon's turf she simply had no answers to the world No.16's power. Sharapova was ruthless on serve in a one-sided 30-minute opener, dropping just three points on her own delivery, and was just as effective when returning, breaking the qualifier twice.
The second was even more lop-sided as Sharapova dropped just four points on serve and broke another three times, wasting only 24 minutes to complete a straight-sets passage into the second round."The goal today was to come out and just figure things out pretty quickly and I did a good job of that," the Russian said afterwards. "I feel good. My body feels good. I'm in much better condition than I was last year."
" There is a feeling among the experts that Maria Sharapova is once again approaching the kind of form that makes her a contender at Grand Slam events and judging by her tennis during her opening victory at the 2010 Championships she can look forward to a lengthy stay in SW19.
Perhaps Sharapova expected a tougher test against a player who had enjoyed a fabulous run at Roland Garros - she qualified and reached the third round. Pivovarova had impressed too during the qualifying event in Roehampton last week where she cruised through three matches for the loss of just ten games.
But against a player as focused and as effective as Sharapova on Wimbledon's turf she simply had no answers to the world No.16's power. Sharapova was ruthless on serve in a one-sided 30-minute opener, dropping just three points on her own delivery, and was just as effective when returning, breaking the qualifier twice.
The second was even more lop-sided as Sharapova dropped just four points on serve and broke another three times, wasting only 24 minutes to complete a straight-sets passage into the second round."The goal today was to come out and just figure things out pretty quickly and I did a good job of that," the Russian said afterwards. "I feel good. My body feels good. I'm in much better condition than I was last year."
Sharapova also revealed that her time away from the game during 2008 and 2009 due to shoulder problems has left her even hungrier for success on the world's biggest stages. "My joy in the game is pretty much up there with what it was before I got injured. Maybe even more so because it was taken away from me for such a long period of time that it made me realise how blessed you are when you're actually on the court [and] are able to hit a tennis ball for an hour a day - and be good at what you do."
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