Maria Sharapova returned to the Australian Open this afternoon for the first time since winning it all in 2008. And Maria walked off the court a winner. Unfortunately for Sharapova, the winner was country woman Maria Kirilenko.
Kirilenko jolted the first Grand Slam of the 2010 season into overdrive in the first match at Rod Laver Arena, upsetting Sharapova 7-6 (4), 3-6, 5-3 in a three-hour, 12-minute marathon during which Sharapova committed 77 unforced errors. "I came here quite confident, and the people supported me a lot today," said Kirilenko, who turns 23 next Monday and has been a top-20 player in both singles and doubles.
Her current ranking of No. 58 has a lot do with a knee that prevented her from playing more than one set without feeling pain during the first half of 2009. Sharapova missed last year's Australian Open while rehabbing a surgically repaired shoulder that also cost her the 2008 U.S. Open and the Beijing Olympics. And this has arguably been her best Grand Slam; she reached the final in 2007, losing to Serena Williams, and reached the semi-finals in 2006 (losing to Justine Henin), and in 2005, when she also lost to Serena.
Following the two Marias onto the Rod Laver Arena court was St. Jean sur Richelieu's Valérie Tétreault, who had to sit in the locker room all that time while she awaited a first-round meeting with reigning U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters. Meanwhile, another Russian former No. 1, Dinara Safina, also kicked off her Australian Open today. And her story had a happier ending. Safina, who lost to Serena Williams in last year's final, had her 2009 season cut short by back problems that threatened to derail the beginning of this season.
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sources: www.montrealgazette.com
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