Here is a preview of Maria's match against Pocket Rocket by tennis. com.
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3) Maria Sharapova vs. (20) Dominika Cibulkova
Head-to-head: Sharapova leads 3-2
Rod Laver Arena, first match
The four-time Grand Slam champion is nearly a foot taller than Cibulkova, but Sharapova sometimes struggles to shake the 5’3†Slovak’s shadow. Cibulkova crushed Sharapova, 6-0, 6-2, in the 2009 Roland Garros quarterfinals; the Russian avenged one of her worst defeats with a 6-1, 6-1 annihilation two years later at Wimbledon.
The surface speed should favor the more powerful Sharapova. She has a wider wingspan, she will want to pulverize Cibulkova’s sub-80 M.P.H. second serves, and if she can hit the kick serve at times it will set up her screaming first strike. Sharapova is a hard-core fighter, who has won 20 of her last 23 three-setters, but here’s what scares me: She’s dumped a tournament-high 29 double faults, she’s still shaking off rust (this will be just her eighth match since Wimbledon 2013), and she’s been sporadic since winning the longest match of her career in round two.
I like Cibulkova’s quickness and love her feistiness. She cracks the ball bigger than her size suggests and will be fresher—Cibulkova has spent three hours, 33 minutes on court compares to Sharapova’s six hours and 58 minutes of work. Dominika will try to straddle the baseline, attack Maria in forehand exchanges, and make this a physical test. Admittedly, this is a reach, but we’ve seen Cibulkova pull major upsets before.
The Pick: Cibulkova in three sets
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