Maria Sharapova’s slow start almost turned into an early exit at the U.S. Open.
The three-time major champion picked up her game in time to avoid an upset against 102nd-ranked Heather Watson, rallying for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory Monday in the opening round.
After being thoroughly outplayed in the first set, third-seeded Sharapova let a 4-1 lead in the second slip, as well. She shored things up at 5-all in the second to pull out that set. She also led 4-1 in the third, but gave back a break. After that, Sharapova broke right back then served out her match against the 19-year-old Brit, who was making her first appearance in the main draw at Flushing Meadows.
Sharapova improved to 12-0 this year in third sets.
“In the end, that’s kind of where it counts,” she said after a match that lasted 2 hours, 34 minutes. “No matter how tired or whether you’re playing your best tennis or sometimes your worst, you keep fighting for it.”
Not showing the same kind of fight was fifth-seeded Petra Kvitova, who became the first reigning Wimbledon champion to lose in the first round of the U.S. Open. She made 52 unforced errors in a 7-6 (3), 6-3 loss to Alexandra Dulgheru and has won only two matches since hoisting the trophy at the All-England Club last month.
“After I made some mistakes, I was mentally down,” Kvitova said.
Last year’s U.S. Open and Wimbledon runner-up, second-seeded Vera Zvonareva, defeated Stephanie Foretz Gacon of France, 6-3, 6-0.
Other women’s winners included No. 13 Peng Shuai, No. 19 Julia Goerges and No. 27 Lucie Safarova.
But Sharapova-Watson was the best match of the afternoon.
With Watson nimbly covering a court that players say is playing slower than usual this year, Sharapova had to fight, and the match turned into a showdown of styles – the Russian’s punishing, aggressive baseline game vs. Watson’s grinding, retrieving relentlessness. The final stats were no surprise: Sharapova finished with 41 winners and 58 unforced errors, compared to nine winners and 30 unforced errors for her opponent.
“There’s no doubt that she’s a great up-and-coming player who showed some of her best tennis today,” Sharapova said. “She played really smart in the first. I was making too many errors. Consistency at the end helped me get through the match.”
Also winning in early play Monday was 27th-seeded Marin Cilic, who defeated 19-year-old American Ryan Harrison 6-2, 7-5, 7-6 (6). Harrison, who made headlines last year with his first-round upset of 15th-seeded Ivan Ljubicic, had chances to serve out the second and third sets, but was broken each time.
He also squandered a 4-1 lead in the third-set tiebreaker – and took nothing away from this match but a few scratched-up rackets, the result of the multiple times he bounced them, kicked them and skidded them along the ground at Louis Armstrong Stadium. He also kicked a ball into the stands.
“I didn’t break any rackets; I didn’t say swear words on court,” Harrison said. “It could have gotten better and I could have been better. I didn’t really go nuts.”
Other early winners included ninth-seeded Tomas Berdych, 20th-seeded Janko Tipsarevic, No. 31 Marcel Granollers, No. 22 Alexandr Dolgopolov and No. 13 Richard Gasquet.
No. 3 Roger Federer and Venus Williams – unseeded after missing time with injuries and illness – were scheduled for night matches.
Sharapova, meanwhile, was due for a rest after her longer-than-expected grind.
“I knew I wasn’t playing my best tennis,” she said. “I think the goal sometimes on this is just to get through it and keep waiting for that opportunity.”