Sharapova reaches Wimbledon third round despite “sloppy” tennis

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Published time: June 28, 2012 16:42
Edited time: June 28, 2012 21:54

Russia’s Maria Sharapova has made it to the third round at Wimbledon, but Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria caused the top seed problems in their two-day encounter.

­The duo began their match on Wednesday, but the encounter was stopped due to the fading light.

Sharapova lost the opening set on a tie-break and was leading 3-1 in the second set when the players were forced to leave the court.

When the action resumed on Thursday, the Russian couldn’t hold on to her lead, with Pironkova forcing another tie-break. This time however Sharapova took the upper hand, letting her opponent win just three points.

The third set was more of a master-class as the world number one cruised to a 6-7 7-6 6-0 win. Sharapova made five breaks, served eight aces and committed only two double faults, but was still dissatisfied and called her tennis “sloppy”.  

“I started with no motor whatsoever, I was just on pause, everything… my feet,” Sharapova told Wimbledon’s official website. “I felt like everything was a little bit slow. I wasn’t moving up to the ball. She hit a few short balls. I made errors, I let her play. I didn’t feel like there was enough pace on my ball. She’s someone that just comes out and just fires and if things go well, they go well.”

Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan will be the 25-year-old’s opponent in the third round at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.