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Maria Sharapova almost had her opening round blown at the French Open on Tuesday. The world number 30 saw a quick first set get turned around by Richel Hogenkamp who nearly had an upset in hand but watched the former number one take it away in three sets 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 on Suzanne Lenglen Court at Roland Garros. It was another one of those first-round jitters in Sharapova’s return to Paris that nearly cost her.
The two met back at Wimbledon three years ago where the Russian took care of business against the Dutch player in straight sets. In her first time back to Roland Garros, the two time champion looked to make a strong return with good notes coming from her skills shown so far on the clay courts. While her defeat of Hogenkamp came on grass, the 31 year old eyed her chance to compete the same way.
She came out of the gate blazing earning swift victories on serve breaking Hogenkamp once through three games. The Dutch star found a way to hold off Sharapova just once before the tables turned back in favor of the Russian. Sharapova’s power did everything she wanted it to, beating down Hogenkamp into submission that gave her a 6-1 rout in 24 minutes.
Despite having a low second serve percentage, Sharapova’s 81 percent success on the first did all the work with three aces and 12 winners in tow. She allowed Hogenkamp just 11 points in the set that would no doubt be the last of her gameplay.
She spent two minutes winning the opening game break follow by a service hold. The set began much like the previous set which was a pace Hogenkamp didn’t want to get into. In response she held off further backlash from Sharapova taking a surprising turn to the competition. She managed to dig in with the Russian holding her own end together before getting a key break that turned the tide fully. The young Dutch player conducted her achievements against the former world number one to come out victorious and force a deciding set into action after 46 minutes.
The statement made in the second set clearly affected Sharapova’s offence that dropped significantly since the opening set. With the new force in front of her, the 31 year old would need to find a way of not letting her opponent get out of hand. It went that way for the Russian who found herself on the losing end of the first three games. What looked to be a serious problem turned into a necessary push from the world number 30 to act quickly.
She returned with a newfound energy that produced game winners to counteract the Dutch fighter. By the seventh game, Sharapova regained all the lost ground taking a double break on Hogenkamp while holding her own serves together. After five consecutive game winners, the two time champion of the open fired all that was left at Hogenkamp who was struggling to contain a show of strength. It was a costly double fault that occurred in the ninth that helped Sharapova reach match point. She got it on a short rally that saw a return shot from Hogenkamp go into the net bringing an end to the 1 hour and 54 minute ordeal.
With a huge sigh of relief, the 31 year old superstar would take a lot from her mistakes to prepare for her next match against Donna Vekic.
