Angelique Kerber Halts Maria Sharapova’s Return at Mallorca Open 2019

Published 06/20/2019, 12:09 PM EDT

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The multiple-time Grand Slam champions, Maria Sharapova and Angelique Kerber take on the Mallorcan grass court in the Spanish island for their round-of-16 encounter. In the clash of the former World Number ones, the German pride of tennis, Kerber defeated Sharapova 6-2, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals at Mallorca Open 2019.

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The top-seed, Angelique Kerber slammed a few unplayable forehands and with Sharapova committing some unforced errors, the German held the opening break and led by 2-0 in the first set and World Number six made the Russian run all over the court. 

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Maria Sharapova uplifted her level of tennis and saved herself from going a double down in the opening set. However, Angelique Kerber was dominant with her forehand and backhand strokes and Sharapova’s double fault, aided the German player to bolster her lead to 5-2 in the opening set.

Later, she closed out the set as Sharapova widened a forehand stroke. In the women’s draw of Mallorca, the Russian leads in the tally of maximum match-wins on the grass.

In the second set, the unforced errors from Sharapova’s end gave rise to break points and she could save them by coming on the volley and another with a hefty forehand downline, but the Russian’s unforced errors were refusing to fade away and Angelique Kerber took away Sharapova’s service game at 2-1.

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Kerber’s squatting forehand returns continued to cause difficulties to Maria Sharapova as she couldn’t ensure equilibrium in the match and the defending Wimbledon champions blazed out groundstrokes and her athleticism also overshadowed Sharapova’s shrewd moves on the turf.

Similar situations as the opening set were witnessed and Angelique Kerber once again held a 5-2 lead after a prolonged game of deuces. However, Sharapova could alter the conditions as Kerber’s errors gave her a break. In the next game, Kerber held three match points with Sharapova netting the ball, and she pulled off the match to advance into the quarterfinals in Mallorca.

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In Birmingham, World Number one tennis player, Naomi Osaka packs her bags from the pre-quarterfinals of Birmingham Classic tennis tournament as she was swept aside by the Kazakh tennis player, Yulia Putintseva. 

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Mahalakshmi Murali

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Mahalakshmi Murali joined EssentiallySports in 2018 as a tennis author and has gone on to pen more than 1800 engaging articles, probing into various aspects of the sport and its illustrious players. With her expertise on the sport, Mahalakshmi has interviewed stalwarts from the sport such as Serena WIlliams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Kevin Anderson’s physio, Carlos Costa. Equipped with her vast experience and a keen understanding of the sport, Mahalakshmi now co-heads the tennis department.
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