A tough opener for Maria Sharapova that needs 3 sets to tame Madison Key.
Maria starts the match in the best possible way after winning the first 5 games in no time. After losing the first set 6-1, Madison regrouped to break Maria twice in the second set and win 6-3. Then the seed no.5 took advantage of a great start in the decider (3-0) to finally win 6-1 3-6 6-3. Match Stats.
Sharapova: the beginning of the 3rd set was crucial
The Russian beauty commented “Against Madison, someone who serves really well, it’s always one or two moments that are really crucial in the match. In the first set I returned quite well and broke her a few times. She got a bit more consistent on her ground strokes in the second set and there were some moments at the beginning of that second set where I felt that I could have taken the lead and broken her. I didn’t do that, and she stepped it up and was able to break me a couple more times. But ultimately I was happy with the beginning of the third set. That was really crucial.”
Madison Key: I didn’t play at my best
Madison wasn’t happy to comment “I don’t think I played my best, especially the first set. That was a bit of a disaster. But I think it’s definitely improvement from what I have done in the past. After a bad first set, I could have gone away, but I kind of figured it out, got some better timing and started playing better.”
