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Maria Sharapova had a sharp offense that quickly got her into the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open Sunday. The former champion of the tournament had seven aces and 18 winners that beat down Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-3, 6-1 on Arantxa Sanchez Court at La Caja Magica.
An early exit from her “home” tournament left the former world number one rattled last week losing to French powerhouse Caroline Garcia who went the distance against the Russian showing her strengths. While she found herself playing the Romanian for a second time after beating her in Shenzhen, Sharapova’s performance last year would weigh heavily on her head.
In her return to the sport, the then 30-year-old lost out to Eugenie Bouchard in what became a trash-talking bout prior to the Canadian’s big win. With no further worries about it, the world number 53 would focus on advancing to the second round in hopes to improve her clay court game prior to the French Open in three weeks.
She and the Romanian levelled with each other through four games playing strong on their service games. By the fifth, Sharapova had enough of the monotony and forcefully took the break from Buzarnescu. She added another two wins that put the 30-year-old on the edge of defeat. In a desperate effort, she forced to deuce on serve in the eighth before capturing the win.
In a show of force, Buzarnescu pulled together a solid break that had Sharapova nervous. Knowing what she needed to do, the Russian built up some chances to close out the set but saw all of them go wasted as the Romanian fought to keep her end together. Buzarnescu reached three breaks but very close ball marks allowed the former number one to come out with the set in 47 minutes. While Sharapova had the result she wanted, both players were performing well but the second serve of Buzarnescu stood out as the difference maker.
She attempted to improve that in the second set but Sharapova had other ideas of dictating things for herself. A double fault handed the 31-year-old a 2-0 lead that would be enough room for the superstar to remain comfortable in the match. She gained three games on Buzarnescu before she found the ability to answer on serve in the fourth. Once she attained her first win of the set, Sharapova regained control taking another step in the right direction.
With some frustration about where the ball landed during the sixth game, Buzarnescu fell to the Russian who achieved her first break to love. The 31-year-old served for the match with new balls in play landing a winner to start. While she dealt with some last-minute challenges, the Russian capped the match in 1 hour and 22 minutes. The victory puts Sharapova back in the groove of success where she’ll face another Romanian in Irina Camelia Begu in the second round.
