The shock of Serena Williams’ early exit in the Australian Open 2014 is yet to sink in completely. And before that another major upset has hit the headlines. This time it’s Maria Sharapova. The third seed Russian lost out to Dominika Cibulkova in her third round match at the Rod Laver Arena to set up the day’s most shocking news till now.
Tiny Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova adopted a suffocating defensive tactics in the second set after losing the first set that eventually turned out to be a big decision in context of the final result of the match. In the first set Cibulkova could not find her rhythm at all and Sharapova grabbed it with the score reading 6-3 in favour of the Russian. But in the second set Cibulkova began to play with much more composure mixing her game well with some good serves, big forehands and quick movements across the court. She took a lead of 5-0 in the set but Sharapova made a great comeback to be at 5-4 only to find Cibulkova holding her nerves to serve out the set and bring in the parity. Then after the end of the second set Maria had to take medical timeout as she suffered an injury supposedly on her left hip. That made it really hard for hard for the third seed to make quick movements across the court. The diminutive Slovak took that opportunity and pushed her to longer rallies. Sharapova not at the apex of her fitness began to make more unforced errors and finally lost out to the Slovak. The final score read 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in favour of the underdog in the match.
With the exit of 2008 champion and third seed Maria Sharapova, this edition of Australian Open is now left with only one former champion in the form of Victoria Azarenka who won her third round match against a relatively easier opponent. So the chances are high that we might get a new champion this year, but only if someone wipes out the threat of Azarenka, who seems to be at home at the Australian Open.
Tags: Australian Open 2014 Dominika Cibulkova Maria Sharapova Serena Williams
