By Erik Gudris | Friday, March 21, 2014

 

Maria Sharapova admits she needs to get match tough after a recent layoff despite posting a straight sets win in her Miami opener.

Photo Credit: Christopher Levy

Though she reached the third round of the Sony Open Tennis event in gritty style, Maria Sharapova sees room for improvement.

The No. 4 seed needed to grind in her second round meeting versus Japan's Kurumi Nara on Thursday night. Though Sharapova took the first set, Nara would jump out to a 3-1 lead in the second.

Sharapova though found a way to eventually close out the 6-3, 6-4 win.

"She made me work extremely hard today," Sharapova said of Nara. "She's a really quick opponent, got a lot of balls back, as you saw, made me hit a lot, and made me feel like tried to do too much in certain situations. But, you know, sometimes I felt like I was doing the right mistakes and sometimes I felt like I should have been a bit more patient."

After coming back this year from a layoff late last season due to a shoulder issue, Sharapova continues to struggle in recent events. The former No. 1 feels not having enough matches is the main reason.

"You know, that match strength, when you're, you know, deep into the match and also in the later stages of the matches, I think that's hurt me a little bit in these last couple of months. But I got to work through that. Nothing's going to come to me. It's a challenge that I have ahead of me, and I have to face it."

Sharapova came close to winning Miami last year before losing to eventual champion Serena Williams in the final. Miami is one of the few events Sharapova has never won in her career. But she feels her experience winning other events can only help her.

"Well, I expect to win because I have won before. I have won tournaments before. So when you're in the draw, that sense of competitiveness and presence that you have has to be positive and not thinking that I'm here to let somebody, you know, get in the way of what I should do. I want to go out there and get it myself, and that's the attitude that I have."

Sharapova will next face Lucie Safarova in the third round.