Two seeds didn’t go past the second round of the China Open in Tuesday’s matches, and those were Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka.
The twelfth-seeded Sharapova lost to fellow Russian Elena Vesnina 7-6(3) 6-2. After the match Sharapova gave a lot of credit to Vesnina’s game, but also pointed out how she was not able to train properly after the US Open (where she lost in the round of 16 to Caroline Wozniacki) and is still trying to regroup. Following the US Open, Sharapova also played in Tokyo, but lost in the first round already, to home favorite Kimiko Date Krumm.
The eighth-seeded Azarenka retired from her second round match with a left thigh strain, handing Timea Bacsinszky a 4-6 3-2 retirement victory.
All the other seeded players that played today advanced to the third round of the China Open, including No.2 seed Vera Zvonareva, No.5 Francesca Schiavone, No.7 Elena Dementieva, No.9 Li Na and No.15 Shahar Peer. Ana Ivanovic is also through – she managed to stay calm when 4-1 down in the second set against Olga Govortsova and win 6-0 7-5. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)
If this is the last Maria’s tournament this year, then I have to say she had a disappointing season. 2 minor titles and 3 finals and at other tournaments pretty early exits, plus that injury after Indian Wells. She needs to change something, I don’t know, it seems like she isn’t the player she was before the shoulder injury, mentally and physically, but I guess that’s a normal thing to happen when you have a long break from sport. I only hope that this isn’t the maximum she (and her shoulder) can give us after the surgery, and that she’ll do better next year. 🙁
Mirjana, that’s true. Sharapova hasn’t reached her previous level yet, and all we can do is hope a great period will come again. It’s never too late.