By Chris Oddo | Saturday, April 26, 2014

 

Each year when spring rolls around, the legend of Maria Sharapova aka Claypova continues to grow. The numbers don't lie: The Russian is no cow on ice.

Maria Sharapova will bid for a Stuttgart three-peat on Sunday against Ana Ivanovic in the final, and to honor the occasion, we'll take a closer look at just how dominant the 27-year-old Russian has become on the clay over the last four seasons.

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Sharapova began the 2011 season with a clay court record of 52-17 (.754), and since then the Russian who famously dubbed herself as a “cow on ice” has gone 51-5 (.911).

Sharapova has gone 39-3 on the surface since the beginning of 2012, but her domination does come with a caveat: The Russian has lost all three confrontations she has had with Serena Williams during this torrid stretch, and she couldn't manage a single set in any of them.

Still, Sharapova is tops among all WTA players when it comes to clay-court winning percentage (a remarkable development, especially considering her pre-2011 winning percentage on clay), and she will bid to move up to fourth on the WTA's active clay-court title list on Sunday when she faces Ana Ivanovic in the Stuttgart final.

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Additonally, Sharapova's 103 career wins on the surface (and counting...) leave her just five behind Nadia Petrova who is tenth on the active list for clay-court wins.

Also of note is the fact that Sharapova has won her last 12 deciding sets on clay. She has not dropped a third set since falling to Justine Henin at Roland Garros in 2010. The Russian has not dropped a decision to a player outside the top 10 on the surface since May of 2011 when she fell to Dominika Cibulkova in Madrid.