By Erik Gudris | Monday, August 28, 2017
Maria Sharapova, playing in her first Grand Slam match in 19 months, upset No. 2 seed Simona Halep on Monday night at the US Open.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
In a match that lived up to its early hype, Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep met in what felt like a Grand Slam final instead of a Monday night opening round. In the end, it was the former US Open champion Sharapova who walked away with an emotional three set win. A win that Sharapova hopes helps put some distance between her and her recent off-court troubles.
US Open: What to Watch Day Two
“I just thought this was another day, another opportunity, another match, but this was so much more,’ said a tearful Sharapova right after the 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory. “No matter my record against her, it's always been tough. I know I always have to work for it."
Sharapova, who won the US Open back in 2006, was making her first appearance at a Grand Slam since serving a 15-month doping ban. Despite her experience, Sharapova entered this match having playing only once this summer at Stanford. A forearm injury kept her out of the rest of the summer hard court events leaving many to wonder how match ready the Russian superstar was, even if she held a 6-0 lifetime record over Halep.
For her part, Halep entered this year’s event in New York with perhaps the best chance to finally become World No. 1 after having missed out three times earlier this year, including in the recent Cincinnati final. Halep remains one of the most consistent players on tour and it seemed perhaps this was her moment to finally defeat Sharapova.
Sharapova, who wore a black dress dotted with crystals, was warmly embraced by the packed Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd. For Halep, she enjoyed the chants of “Simona!” from her loyal fans.
Both started out the first set at a high quality with extrodinary rallies. Yet it was Sharapova who appeared more amped up about the occasion. For better and worse as Sharapova alternated between hitting extraordinary winners and badly misttimed errors. For Halep, while the Romanian remained steadfast from the baseline, her serving proved less than potent. That allowed Sharapova to enjoy break point opportunities in nearly every Halep service game.
Halep, trailing at 4-5, tossed in an ill-timed double fault to give Sharapova a set point. Sharapova then converted with a fearsome forehand return winner.
Sharapova kept up her huge hitting in the second set. Pressuring Halep’s serve again, Sharapova earned another break before eventually going up 4-1.
With the match on her racket, it appeared Sharapova would run away with it. But the time away from the court and the lack of match play appeared to take a toll on Sharapova.
Soon, errors starting leaking from both Sharapova’s forehand and backhand as she kept swinging away to end points on her terms. Halep, hanging around and forcing Sharapova to come up with winners, clawed her way back to 4-all. Sharapova then tossed in a bad double fault in her next service game to hand Halep the lead for 5-4.
Halep then fought off five break points in her own service game before doing what seemed unthinkable a few games. Halep took the set 6-4 and forced a decider.
Sharapova took an extended bathroom break before the start of the final set. That appeared to help her reset her game. The match itself resumed its familiar pattern of Sharapova dominating with her power as Halep tried to play catch up.
Sharapova broke Halep early and then consolidated for 2-0. The pivotal point of the match came in the next game at 30-all. Sharapova, after hitting several drop shots, made a lunging bunt volley winner to give herself 40-30. She then closed out the game to extend her lead to 3-0.
Down the stretch, Sharapova did not waver as she had in the second set. Sharapova, despite again hitting one too many errors, kept Halep at bay as she moved ahead for 5-3.
Sharapova struck one of her trademark roundhouse backhand down the line winners to put her within two points of the match. Halep managed to earn one last break point for 30-40, but netted a forehand that would have entered the open court. Sharapova soon held match point. Finally, after nearly three hours of captivating tennis, Halep sent a backhand long.
With that, Sharapova sunk to her knees in triumph on the emotional win.
The final stats showed that it was all about Sharapova as she hit 60 winners and 64 unforced errors compared to Halep’s 15 winners and 14 errors.
“I’m sad for losing, she was better than me today, I left everything out there, but my serve was bad today,” Halep said afterwards. "I didn't have the timing, feeling on serve. Maybe because it's night, didn't practice at night, but these are excuses, my bad."
When asked by ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi about she learned about her time away from the sport, Sharapova said “Behind all these Swarovski crystals and little black dresses is a girl with a lot of grit, and she's not going anywhere.”