Sharapova was asked about the atmosphere on the court and the strong fan support she had.
"I really enjoyed the atmosphere," she said. "When the crowd gets into the match and they're being supportive of both players it's extremely important to feed off their energy, because as athletes I think we always perform better when we feel the atmosphere from the music and people cheering. "I think having that kind of atmosphere out there really helps us lift our games.
" Sharapova is playing the 19th International-level event of her career, and she has now reached the quarterfinals or better at 18 of them. The only pre-quarterfinal loss? It came at Tokyo [Japan Open] in 2002, her first year on the tour.
She lost in the first round to Emmanuelle Gagliardi that week. Standing between Sharapova and the semifinals will be Magdalena Rybarikova, who put together one of the best serving performances in recent memory - as well as some fantastic returning - to cruise past Elena Bogdan in 44 minutes, 6-0, 6-2.
Rybarikova lost just two points in seven service games - she won 28 of her 30 service points - and she broke the Romanian qualifier five times in the match. Sharapova and Rybarikova will be playing against each other for the first time.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario