By Tennis Now | Saturday, September 30, 2017
Time away from tennis hasn’t diminished Maria Sharapova’s appetite for the fight.
A strong-willed Sharapova saved a match point avenging her US Open loss to Anastasija Sevastova with a pulsating 7-6 (3), 5-7, 7-6 (7) victory in her Beijing opener.
Watch: Garcia Wins Fourth Career Title in Wuhan
This was a tennis thrill ride producing plenty of plot twists in an epic match that spanned three hours, eight minutes.
In her first match since bowing to Sevastova at the US Open, the 104th-ranked Russian battled through a tight opening set and was up a break for much of the second set.
The combination of Sevastova’s unsettling spins and confounding drop shots and Sharapova’s errant flat drives helped the No. 16 seed rally to take the second set.
Changing direction emphatically, Sharapova powered out to a 5-2 lead in the decider, but Sevastova found another gear to her game.
The world No. 18 dodged two match points, including one on a Sharapova double fault, reeling off four consecutive games to take the lead when Sharapova smacked a backhand into net. Sharapova hit 11 aces and 10 double faults in the match.
The former world No. 1 forced the tie break then saved a match point of her own before finally subduing the stubborn Sevastova, who was a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 victor over Sharapova in Flushing Meadows and pushed eventual US Open champion Sloane Stephens to a third-set tie break in the quarterfinals.
A stubborn Sevastova saved three match points. On her fourth match point, Sharapova ran around her backhand and pounded a forehand winner down the line to end it.
The five-time Grand Slam champion raised her three-set record to 5-4 this season.
A grueling and spirited triumph was Sharapova’s first win in Beijing since she defeated Petra Kvitova in the 2014 China Open final.
The Russian wild card will play either American qualifier Jennifer Brady, who took a set from Sharapova in Stanford, or compatriot Ekaterina Makarova, who has been working with Thomas Hogstedt, Sharapova’s former coach. Sharapova has won 14 of 15 sets she’s played vs. the reigning Olympic doubles gold medal champion.
World No. 2 Simona Halep, who lost her US Open to Sharapova, bounced back in Beijing with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory over American Alison Riske. Halep will play Magdalena Rybarikova or wild card Genie Bouchard in the second round.
Squaring off for the third time in six weeks, former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber defused explosive Naomi Osaka, 6-2, 7-5.
The 12th-ranked German beat Osaka in Tokyo two weeks ago, avenging her US Open loss to the 61st-ranked Japanese.
The 10th-seeded Kerber will play either Alize Cornet or Chinese wild card Yafan Wang in the second round.
Two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova dispatched Kristyna Pliskova, 6-3, 7-5, in an all-Czech, all-lefty opening-round match.