Sharapova sails past Israel’s Shahar Peer in her Olympic debut

Sharapova in her Olympic debut match against Shahar Peer

Maria Sharapova won her Olympic debut easily, demolishing Shahar Peer of Israel 6-2, 6-0 in jut 65 minutes. Winning an Olympic medal is every athlete’s dream and so does Sharapova, who has always dreamt of representing her nation in the Olympics. Having won her first Grand Slam in Wimbledon at the age of 17, this beautiful Russian showed the world what she is capable of.

Playing under Wimbledon’s retractable roof on Centre Court because of rain, the current French Open champion served and volleyed well to win her first Olympic match. Sharapova had the better of Peer right from the start of the match and played aggressively in the second set and swept the match away with six straight points. Besides fulfilling her dream, Sharapova was also honoured with the duty of carrying the flag for her country, Russia. Having missed the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and after not being able to win the recently concluded Wimbledon, Sharapova is much focused and will give her best to win the Gold for Russia.

Sharapova completed a career Grand Slam last month when she won the French Open and was expected to win her second Wimbledon title too. Having failed to do so, Sharapova has set her aim for her first Gold medal in her debut Olympics to silence the critics. Seeded No.3 in the London Games, Maria will face tough challenges from the top seed Azarenka, Wimbledon champion Serena Williams, Kvitova and other top players.

Sharapova, the champion here, way back in 2004, started the game on a low note as she dropped serve in the first game. Immediately, she pulled up her socks as she broke Peer’s serve for three straight times before winning the set 6-2. Most of the games of the day either got delayed or cancelled due to persistent rain. So the match had to be played indoors. Sharapova, looking to complete a career Golden Slam which comprises of all four major titles and Olympic singles gold, will play either Britain’s Laura Robson or Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic in the her next match.

Having lost her number one ranking after being defeated at the hands of German Sabine Lisicki in the Wimbledon, Sharapova is looking only at the Olympic Gold which would be the perfect medicine to her Wimbledon disappointment. We got to see her determination in this match when she overpowered the 49^th ranked Peer with her powerful serve and returns to which the Israeli had no answer. The Russian eventually won the set 6-0 and won her debut match in Olympics by 6-2, 6-0. Peer had lost 6 matches to Sharapova before this match and after the conclusion of this match the score line says 7-0 in favor of Maria Sharapova.

We will all love to see the tall Russian glamour girl to win the Olympic Single’s Gold and win her career Golden Slam in front of the respected All England Tennis Club spectators.