Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova to meet in Wimbledon round four

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Wilson Blade 9

Maria SharapovaSerena Williams

Top seed Serena Williams secured her place in the fourth round of Wimbledon with a 6-0 7-5 victory over Dominika Cibulkova, the defending champion’s third successive match in which she bageled her opponent in the first set. Serena’s next opponent will be the 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova who took a lot of effort to beat world No.68 Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 7-5 6-3 in the third round.

Cibulkova was absolutely stunned by Serena’s serve and said it was the best serve she had ever faced, even better than Venus’. However, world No.1 Serena thinks her serve was the only good part of her game and believes she must improve for her match against 16th-seeded Sharapova. In the 18-minute first set, the unseeded Cibulkova scored just six points, while Serena lost only six points on her serve in the entire match.

Serena is 5-2 head-to-head against Sharapova, winning their last four meetings. (photos: Stephane Martinache, Tidalist)

13 COMMENTS

  1. Too bad they have to face each other too early.
    Women’s draw is soooo unbalanced right now.
    Just look at the fourth round pairings:
    Henin vs. Clijsters – winner faces either JJ or Zvonareva
    Maria vs. Serena – winner will play Aga or Li Na
    Zakopalova vs. Kanepi – winner will face Wozzy or Kvitova
    Bartoli vs Pironkova – winner will face Venus 98%.

  2. Wow. I didn’t realize Serena’s serve was that effective against Cibulkova. That’s really impressive.

    I can’t wait for the Sharapova-Serena match. It’s going to be great. I definitely see it going in Serena’s favor. Hopefully in three sets!

  3. I cannot see Maria getting close to Serena. I would think if Serena serves well it will be a comfortable win in straight sets. I hope I am wrong though. We could do with a great women’s match at this years Wimbledon.

  4. Although I’ll be cheering for Maria, I think it’s highly unlikely she wins. Serena is playing great, and I think Maria could have a chance only in 2nd set, but who knows? Anyway, can’t wait for these 2 clashes- too bad it’s in last 16 (ps. Maria really doesn’t have luck with draws- first Justine in 3rd round of RG, and now Serena 🙁 ).

  5. i completely agree with you, mirjana. =(

    but who knows, the unexpected might still happen. =)

    maria sharapova all the way. ♥

  6. Marija, I have the DVDs 🙂 I recieved them on tuesday but wasnot home. Thank you so much for them and your wonderful letter 🙂

  7. I wouldn’t be surprised if Maria takes a set off Serena, because anything could happen, but I doubt it, like everyone else says, Serena’s been playing great and Cibulkova is a tough opponent (much tougher than Strycova, IMO) so she’s really also match-ready. Hoping for a Williams-Li match!

  8. I don’t want to say any predictions on any of the matches, because my predictions and hopes are usually wrong! However, I am very excited for the match-ups tomorrow. They will be thrilling. It is sad such good players have to meet up early on, but I guess that is the state of the woman’s game at the moment!

    Aside from the Serena-Maria match, which will be hopefully spectacular as both players are excellent on grass, other great matches will be the Kim-Justin match and the JJ-Zvonareva match!

    What was in the letter LuLinQa?

    Hope your exams went well Marija and that you have maintained your job!

  9. Maria in the match against Strycova appeared very tense, especially in the first set when the service was not working properly and her opponent responded well…

    I believe that against Serena she will need all her tenacity as Serena is playing better tennis.

  10. Serena should win this one, despite the fact that Sharapova should be a tough opponent. They played on grass only once, at Wimbledon as well, and Maria won on route to her 2004 title.

    LuLinQa, glad to hear the news! 😉 Bróna also received them. Hehe you like the letter. Nice. 🙂

    Bb, I finally passed that exam, it’s over! It was on Wednesday. My life is much better now.

  11. As much as it pains me to say it ( 😛 ) I think everyone would be shocked if Maria won the match. Serena is playing too well and Maria just isn’t good enough at the moment. As long as Serena doesn’t steamroll her, I’ll be happy.

    Marija, your note was very sweet 🙂

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