Maria Sharapova suffered a nasty surprise right after her injury comeback when she lost to Greta Arn in the QF of the ASB Classic Tennis tournament. Sharapova has not had a lot of luck with her game lately, starting with last year’s China Open held in October, which was followed by this recent defeat in Auckland.
The win was a big moment for Arn, who remarked, ‘‘I’m like a little girl whose dream has come true. If you ask a little girl what is your dream she would say to play Maria Sharapova.”
Sharapova’s shaky serve was not helped by the strong wind conditions that lasted all throughout the match. She tried to make up with her forehand, but these fell short on accuracy, and by the end of the match Sharapova had accumulated 30 unforced errors.
Despite the weak serve Sharapova was able to break Arn in the sixth game. Sharapova was advised by her coach during the first and second round to play through the middle of court but instead, the Russian went after the quick points, which she could not get due to her inaccurate hits. She dropped serve in games one and five and lost the first set after 30 minutes.
