‘Red dirt girl’ Sharapova eases into second round

Tuesday, 27 May 2014 00:06 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

REUTERS: The days when Maria Sharapova was struggling through the early rounds at Roland Garros are long gone as the Russian, who once described herself as a ‘cow on ice’ on clay, has matured into a feared competitor on the slow surface.

On Monday, the seventh seed took a step closer to a likely quarter-final showdown with defending champion Serena Williams, which will be a rematch of last year’s final, after brushing aside fellow Russian Ksenia Pervak 6-1 6-2. Whereas the statuesque Russian once struggled to keep her poise as she awkwardly slipped around the Roland Garros courts, her triumph in 2012 proved that she has mastered how to play on red dirt, a surface where endurance and patience go hand-in-hand.