Maria Sharapova Cruises into 3rd Round

The Russian will next play wildcard Mallory Burdette

By Joe McDonald

Maria Sharapova speaks to press after her 2nd round win at the 2012 US Open

(August 29, 2012) -- Maria Sharapova had a message for the Arthur Ashe crowd: Get ready to root for the bad guy.

After creaming Lourdes Dominguez Lino, 6-0 6-1, the Russian beauty has a date with American Mallory Burdette, an American playing in her first open.

So obviously she thinks the crowd will go the other way.

“This is her first US Open main draw. I mean, obviously she's going to get a lot of home support, which is absolutely normal,” she said. “Of course, I've lived in this country since I was seven years old. I consider this to be my home. But I understand on the other side if the crowd does cheer for her as she's coming in as the underdog.”

So her black hat will match the black dress she wore tonight, but that doesn’t matter, she will be zoned in as she takes the court in Round 3.

And even some boos will drive the No. 3 seed to victory.

“It's a different type of emotion,” she added. “I'm usually in my own little bubble when I play. You can certainly hear the crowd, the emotion, the energy from the crowd.

“But I try to stay pretty level-headed about the energy swings. Or if you're up so much, you're winning games, your opponent wins a game, the crowd goes crazy. I try not to focus too much on that and let that affect me.”

This is a big open for the Russian, who is back to her old form. She comes in as the third seed, but many believe she is the only one with a chance to beat Serena Williams and take the Open.

And with Kim Clijsters being the big story of the day, Sharapova did get a chance to discuss other topics, her fashion sense on the court.

"I think the successful ones are always the ones that are unexpected and different," she said. "I think for me it was during the time when my dresses weren't for sale yet. They were quite expensive to produce, so you could do a little bit more. You could, you know, use materials which are just too expensive to go into the mass market or details that are just too hard to perfect when you're doing many dresses.

"I mean, the dress that I won here with was pretty special. It would be extremely expensive to have at retail. That's probably why you can't replicate something like that. If you ever do, it will never have that special feel to it. I've had a few. I mean, I've wore this corset top that was part of the Nike dance collection in Miami one year which zipped up the front which was different for the tennis court. A few here and there.”

She also discussed her chances of reaching the fourth round.

“It's quite rare being on the tour for so many years and this will be the third opponent this tournament that I'll be facing for the first time,” she said, referring to the Stanford University Cardinal Burdette. “But it's one of those things where you go into the match just focusing on what you have to do in your game, but also trying to figure her game and the things that maybe you want to look for in the first few games; try to figure that out as soon as possible to have a bit more of a game plan on your end.”

And obviously wear the black hat with pride.

(Photo Credit: Andy Kentla)