Friday, August 3, 2007

Maria on the March

Maria Sharapova may be the 2nd ranked and most highly paid woman in the game, but 2007 has been something of an annus horribilis for the sleek Siberian. No titles to speak of, and a handful of bona fide drubbings at the hands of team Williams. So it's interesting to see that she breezed into Carlsbad with a cute trimmed haircut, a striking black and white dress worthy of Narciso Rodriguez, and—most importantly—a smart new abbreviated service motion. Maria dusted the not-too-shabby Sania Mirza in the quarters today with just two doubles and none of the grimacing seen at Wimbledon or Roland Garros. Her forehand came along for the ride in a serious way as well, firing with devastating speed and much greater accuracy than we've seen in recent months.

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