Maria Sharapova has her steely gaze set on reclaiming the Wimbledon crown, after seeing off a late comeback to reach the fourth round with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu.
– Aseel Shaheen: Meet Wimbledon’s first Arab female official
– #360view: Rafael Nadal needs fresh coaching input
– Wimbledon: Kyrgios downs Raonic to avenge 2014 exit
The fourth seed and 2004 champion won the key points in the first set and fended off some last-ditch resistance in the second to book her place in last 16.
The Russian will now face unseeded Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan for a spot in the last eight. “What everyone at this stage of the tournament expects is to go further and expect more, better things from yourself. As the matches get tougher, you have to raise your level,” said five-time Grand Slam winner Sharapova.
Sharapova has reached the second week at seven straight majors (longest current streak in WTA).
— Chris Skelton (@ChrisSkelton87) July 3, 2015
“That’s why there’s only one champion, that’s why it makes it so special: it’s the one that really raises their game. You have to have the belief and I absolutely do. You don’t work all those hours to go on court and not believe in yourself. I want to be the winner and I do my best to do that.
“The memories of being a champion, the experience of going through those two weeks not expecting myself to be the champion at that stage in my career, yet holding up the plate, always carrying those memories with me every time I step on the court here.”
Since 2006, Sharapova, 28, has only made it past the fourth round once, when she made the 2011 final, losing to Petra Kvitova.
Facing 24-year-old 29th seed Begu on Court One, Sharapova chose to serve but was immediately broken before breaking straight back. Begu then matched Sharapova but the Siberian won the crucial points at the end of the set.
In the second set, Sharapova broke twice for a 4-0 lead, the second time helped by an improvised scooped lob when she miscalculated and over-ran beyond the path of the ball.
Begu stopped the rot, breaking Sharapova when facing the exit at 5-1 down and prolonging the contest. Sharapova even switched to play a left-handed forehand when stretching for a double-handed backhand that was beyond her.
“At 4-4 I played a really good game to go up 5-4. It was nice to have that tough game – but break her,” Sharapova said. “I felt good in the second set and obviously she’s not going to go away at the end and she played extremely well, so I was quite happy that I was able to finish off on good form.”
