Maria Sharapova registered 81 % of first serves in the opening set against Nadia Petrova. Petrova won the toss and chose to receive serve. She won the first set 6-1 but would not ride the wave of confidence at the start of the second set.
An untimely double fault, her second of the match then, cost her (Sharapova) the opening game of the second set. Petrova consolidated the early break of serve to take a 3 love lead in just under an hour. Sharapova got her focus back to get back on serve by breaking the Petrova serve in the 7th game.
However Sharapova would drop a set for the first time thus far in the Open, as Petrova converted 1 of 3 Set Points to win the second set 6-4. Petrova capitalized with the momentum on her side; she broke Sharapova to lead 2 love before a rain delay interrupted play on Arthur Ashe stadium.
Sharapova came out of the locker room after the rain delay with renewed energy, appearing to have regrouped mentally. She broke Petrova’s serve to get on the board and held serve without dropping a point for 2 all on the board.
Petrova did not want to go away easily but ended up unable to deal with Sharapova’s resilience. Sharapova won 6-1 4-6 6-4. Other results include Marion Bartoli taking down Petra Kvitova 1-6 6-2 6-0 and ViktoriaAzarenka in convincing form over Anna Tatishvili, winning 6-2 6-2.
