10 FACTS: MARIA SHARAPOVA Maria Sharapovas dominant clay court season, highlighted by a second French Open triumph, helped secure a spot at the WTA Finals for a seventh time. 1) Back Again Sharapova will be competing at the WTA Finals for a seventh time. She made her debut at the season-ending showpiece, then held in Los Angeles, in 2004, defeating Serena Williams on her way to the title. 2) Since then… Since her triumphant introduction to the Finals, the Russian has tried in vain to repeat the feat, coming closest in 2007 and 2012, when she finished as runner-up. 3) Stop The Rot Another thing she has failed to do since then is beat Williams, losing their next 15 encounters. 4) No.1 Up For Grabs If she can finally stop the rot, then she has a chance to pip Williams for the much-coveted year-end No.1 ranking. Williams current lead is a seemingly healthy 1965 points, but as reigning champion she has 1,500 points to defend. Sharapova, meanwhile, is defending none having missed last years tournament through injury. 5) Seeding Secured Sharapova is guaranteed to be seeded No.2 in Singapore, meaning that she will be kept apart from Williams in the round robin stage. 6) Queen of clay The bulk of the 5,575 points that took Sharapova across the finishing post came during the European clay court season, during which she won the Stuttgart (470 points), Madrid (1,000) and French Open (2,000) titles. 7) Old Faithful However, she has been far from a one-trick pony, something she showed last week by picking up her 18th title on hard, at the China Open. 8) Her Indoors Sharapovas high-risk game is ideally suited to indoor courts, where the elements are unable to play havoc with the timing on her groundstrokes or ocassionally errant ball toss. In 12 indoor finals, the World No.2 has picked up nine titles. 9) Welcome return Last year, a shoulder injury brought Sharapova’s campaign to a premature end, forcing her to miss the Finals. The same injury and subsequent surgery also contributed to the Russian’s absence from the event in 2008 and 2009. 10) Five Alive Should she triumph, Singapore would be Sharapova’s fifth title of the season. She has only achieved this feat twice before, in 2004 and 2006.
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 16:08:51 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015