Maria had quite a tricky start of Championship against a good Kristina Mladenovic.
On paper Maria shouldn’t have any problem against the world no.37, but Kristina displayed a very aggressive tennis to give some problems to the Russian Beauty.
Maria struggled a bit in the break point conversion to break Conly once after having 8 break points. Finally she won the match winning 76 points vs. Kristina’s 63
Maria about friends on tour
Curiously enough there was a quirky question to Maria about why she doesn’t have many friends on tour. Sharapova replied
“Actually, it doesn’t matter. I’m not really friendly or close to many players. I have a lot of friends away from the courts, in all different parts of the world.”
“I think just because you’re in the same sport doesn’t mean that you have to be friends with everyone just because you’re categorized as a tennis player, so you’re supposed to get along with tennis players,
Every person has different interests. I have friends that have completely different jobs and interests. Ultimately tennis is just a very small part of what we do.”
Next vs. Larcher de Brito
Maria will play the second round against the Portuguese and world no. 131 Michelle Larcher de Brito
