Maria Sharapova was lucky to survive her match in the fourth round where she nearly had a repeat of last year taking ..."/> Maria Sharapova was lucky to survive her match in the fourth round where she nearly had a repeat of last year taking ..."/>
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Sharapova staves off fight from Diyas to make quarterfinals

By Rudy Martinez

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Maria Sharapova was lucky to survive her match in the fourth round where she nearly had a repeat of last year taking an early exit. She hung on to fight another day defeating Zarina Diyas 6-4, 6-4 on Court One at Wimbledon Monday

The Russian comfortably sits in the best spot to make the quarterfinals as she has dealt with the young player from Kazakhstan before. The two met in the third round at Melbourne where Sharapova allowed just two wins to her opponent before closing the match out. With just three games to play before the final, the 2004 champion at Wimbledon will need a similar result lest she face a nightmare.

Diyas has her moments of showing strength on course and so far she has done well in her first three matches. Her wins over Flavia Pennetta and Andrea Petkovic are good accomplishments to set up for a battle against Sharapova. Whether she is capable of succeeding will be entirely up to how the pace of the match begins.

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Sharapova didn’t have a great start in the first game committing two double faults that helped Diyas stay in score with her but failed to capture the upset on deuce. With this being the second time she has gotten this far in any major, the 21 year old had her nerves working against her. She was able to fight against the Russian while serving where she played through three breaks before tying the set at one.

Something odd occurred with Sharapova as she made her third double fault before an unforced error had her down 0-30 in Game Three. She slowly rallied back where an ace helped her regain the lead over Diyas. Sharapova opened the gap on Diyas winning the fourth consecutive game to be played on deuce.

After going up 4-1 in the set, Diyas fought her way back to cut Sharapova’s lead in half as the Russian was not at her full potential of playing the game. Regardless of her performance on court, Sharapova held the lead but continued to see power from the Kazak. Diyas pushed the Russian into another deuce where after a double fault nearly put the set away, she rallied back to win it and come within two games of tying the set.

“The further you get, the tougher it gets,” – Maria Sharapova

The tension was high for Sharapova as she was having trouble putting the 21 year old away in the set. A third break for Diyas kept her alive as she got within one after the unforced errors were dominating the number four ranked player in the world. She made the tenth game her most important to win but as she got into position for the set, Diyas was reluctant to give away the win easily scoring two points before an unforced error gave Sharapova the victory.

It took 51 minutes for Sharapova to complete the set where she tallied four double faults and 16 unforced errors. The point that saved her was her solid first serve that gave her 74 percent of points scored on it. With her return on an even keel the second would be her chance to make up for mistakes.

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    • Sharapova opened the second with a message for Diyas that she was ready to up her game in the set. She won on a love service but watched as the Kazak mirrored the same feat against her. The youngster was all over Sharapova as she grew out to a 3-1 lead in the set where the Russian continued to let her problems overwhelm her. Game Five was Sharapova’s biggest fight of the match as she clawed her way back on every point to get within one of tying the set.

    She made it happen on a win to break the serve of Diyas and try to take control while firing the ball from her end. A beautiful love service from the Russian had her back on top as the dominance in the seventh game had her back in control. She wouldn’t have it for long as Diyas came back to even back at four all where the pressure came back to haunt Sharapova “My opponent is a really good grass player,” Sharapova said to ESPN’s Gary Richardson. “She stays really low and hits so hard so I had to be ready for all her shots.”

    She returned to lead 5-4 after committing a seventh double fault but holding on to play for the match. Sharapova climbed back from 40-15 to force deuce and watch Diyas fall apart under pressure. It took 97 minutes for Sharapova to get through her frustrating match but being grateful to play on was the thought on her mind. . “The further you get, the tougher it gets,” Sharapova said.

    This became Sharapova’s fifth time into the quarterfinals where she will face American Coco Vanderweghe Wednesday at the All England Club. “It’s a great position to be in,” She said about playing on at Wimbledon. “I lost at this stage last year so I was extremely happy to go a round further and obviously continue.”

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