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Tennis was supposed to be easy last night for Maria Sharapova at the Acura Classic and, after a time, it was. For a time, it also was anything but easy.
Sharapova was matched against Vasilisa Bardina, of whom Maria said she knew two things: “She is from Russia and her father is always walking around barefoot.”
From Moscow, Bardina, 18, has been playing largely in tennis' outback, the International Tennis Federation circuit. Although she has done well in the ITF series, she certainly could not have been expected to extend a Wimbledon champion, but she did – for six games.
Maria Sharapova lunges to hit a forehand volley against Vasilisa Bardina. Sharapova, the second seed, was pushed hard early before she rebounded to win 10 of the final 11 games in a 6-4, 6-1 victory.
Bardina arrested the attention of a sellout crowd of 6,500 by assuming a 4-2 advantage in the first set with some crisply hit groundstrokes, particularly her forehand. At that point, Sharapova imposed her queenly presence, winning 6-4, 6-1 and positioning herself for what could be a more demanding match in the third round against another Russian, Vera Zvonareva.
Including her 6-1, 7-5 conquest yesterday of No. 13 seed Ai Sugiyama, a finalist here a year ago, Zvonareva is 8-1 in her last nine matches, with the only defeat to Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals last week at Stanford.
Warming up for her match against Sharapova, Bardina, a qualifier, took a position at the net and began to knock off volleys. “I thought, 'Oh, she's going to be at the net,' ” said Maria.
In the match, however, Bardina went to the net only when she was drawn to it.
“She pulled out every trick – except winning,” said Sharapova.
Bardina, it should be noted, has done quite well on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in recent weeks after graduating from the ITF circuit, qualifying and gaining the round of 16 at both Cincinnati and Stanford. After Bardina's strong start last night, however, Sharapova began hammering her rival's so-so second serve.
“I actually felt really good,” said Sharapova, for whom this was her first match since Wimbledon.
just remember to take every opponent seriously especially Zvonareva since she has been playing the last few weeks and you havent. but as the rust goes, so should your opponents! Best wishes in the next round. rooting for you always Maria!
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