Results and statistics from Maria Sharapova's 2010 tennis season.
Yearly summary
Australian Open series Sharapova began her season at the Australian Open, as the 14th seed. She was knocked out in the first round by compatriot Maria Kirilenko in three sets; this marked Sharapova's worst performance at a Major tournament since she lost in the first round of the 2003 French Open, and the first time she lost a match at the tournament since her heavy defeat in the 2007 final to Serena Williams (she did not participate in 2009 due to injury).
North American season Rather than participate at the two Middle East Premier tournaments in Doha and Dubai, Sharapova decided to instead compete at the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, as a means of attempting to regain her confidence following her first round defeat in Australia. As the top seed in the tournament, Sharapova won the tournament without dropping a set, defeating Shenay Perry, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Elena Baltacha, Petra Kvitová and Sofia Arvidsson on her way to capturing her 21st career title.BBC Sport - Tennis - Maria Sharapova beats Sofia Arvidsson in Memphis final
Sharapova's next tournament was Indian Wells. After receiving a bye in the first round, and defeating compatriot Vera Dushevina in the second, Sharapova was upset in the third round by Zheng Jie of China in three sets.Chinese Zheng Jie overcomes Sharapova at Indian Wells Following the defeat, Sharapova then withdrew from Miami citing an elbow injury.Serve And Return: Sharapova Withdraws from Miami This was the third year in a row in which Sharapova was forced to miss the North American hard-court season concluder.
Clay court season After a few weeks off the tour, Sharapova returned at the Madrid Open in May, but, as it was at the Australian Open earlier in the year, her tournament would be another short affair, as she fell in the first round to Lucie Šafářová.Lucie Safarova makes Maria Sharapova's appearance in Madrid short | Maria Sharapova Following the early exit in Madrid, Sharapova then entered the Internationaux de Strasbourg as a wildcard entry and the top seed, where she would win her second title for the year, by defeating Kristina Barrois in the final.Sharapova beats Barrois to win Strasbourg tournament - Sport - DNA
Sharapova then competed at the French Open as the 11th seed. After routine straight sets victories over Ksenia Pervak and Kirsten Flipkens in the first two rounds, Sharapova lost in the third round to four-times champion Justine Henin, however, she would become the first player since Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2005 to win a set against the Belgian at the French Open. Sharapova was also the last player to be beaten by the Belgian at the tournament; Henin's victory was her 23rd (and last) consecutive match victory at the tournament.French Open 2010: Justine Henin defeats Maria Sharapova - Telegraph
Grass court season Following the French Open, Sharapova started her preparations for Wimbledon by reaching the final of the Aegon Classic in Birmingham, where she was beaten by top seed Li Na after serving seven double faults in the match.Li Na beats Sharapova in Birmingham final - CNN.com
Sharapova was seeded 16th at Wimbledon. She defeated Anastasia Pivovarova, Ioana Raluca Olaru and Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová in the first three rounds, all in straight sets, to set up a fourth round showdown against defending champion Serena Williams, in what would be their first meeting on grass since the 2004 Wimbledon final, and thus a rematch of the same final, which Sharapova won. However, there would be no repeat this time around, as Sharapova succumbed in straight sets, despite holding several set points in the first set. This marked her fifth straight defeat to Williams since the end of 2004, and the fourth consecutive year in which she would fail to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.Wimbledon 2010: Sharapova sent out as Serena Williams gets revenge six years on - Daily Record
Following her defeat at Wimbledon, Sharapova then visited her parents' hometown of Gomel, Belarus, to meet the victims of the Chernobyl accident, which occurred when Sharapova was conceived by her parents, who escaped the city as a result.Maria Sharapova returns to her roots in the wasteland of Chernobyl - Telegraph
US Open series After a month off the Tour, Sharapova returned to action at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford. She defeated Zheng Jie, Olga Govortsova, Elena Dementieva and Agnieszka Radwańska en route to reaching her fourth final for the year, where she was defeated easily by emerging rival Victoria Azarenka. Sharapova then made her tournament debut at Cincinnati, where she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova (who had just won the title in San Diego the previous week), Andrea Petkovic, Agnieszka Radwańska (for a second time in three weeks), Marion Bartoli (who had just defeated Caroline Wozniacki in the third round) and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (in three sets) to reach her fifth final of the year. There, she faced Kim Clijsters, the defending US Open champion. She came very close to winning the title, holding championship points in the second set before rain interrupted the match and Sharapova's momentum; this break allowed Clijsters to make a comeback and eventually win in three sets.Kim Clijsters comes from set down to beat Maria Sharapova at Cincinnati Open final - Telegraph
Sharapova's next tournament was the US Open, where she was seeded 16th. After defeating Jarmila Gajdošová, Iveta Benešová and Beatrice Capra in the first three rounds, Sharapova lost in the fourth round to top seed Caroline Wozniacki, in a match where she served nine double faults and committed 36 unforced errors.U.S. Open: Caroline Wozniacki's game clean as a whistle - ESPN Her collective performances at the Majors in 2010 represented her worst performance at that level since 2003, the last year she failed to reach a single Major quarter-final until this year.
The victory over Capra, which preceded the loss to Wozniacki, marked Sharapova's 100th match victory at a Major tournament, and her first double bagel victory at the same level.Sharapova blows past USA's Capra at windy U.S. Open - USATODAY.com
Asian hard court season Sharapova's Asian hard court swing would turn out to be short-lived one; as the defending champion in Tokyo, Sharapova lost in the first round to Kimiko Date-Krumm in three sets,Kimiko Date Krumm downs Maria Sharapova at Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo | Sport | guardian.co.uk and in Beijing, she fell to compatriot Elena Vesnina in the second round.Sharapova eliminated at China Open - Sports News - SINA English This meant that she lost three of her last four matches to finish the season, and thus failed to qualify for the year-end championships for the third year in succession. She had qualified for the alternate year-ending championships, the WTA Tournament of Champions in Bali, but chose not to participate.
Sharapova finished the season ranked World No. 18, only nine rankings points behind a resurgent Ana Ivanovic; this was her lowest year-end ranking since 2003.
All matches This table chronicles all the matches of Sharapova in 2010, including walkovers (W/O) which the WTA does not count as wins. They are marked ND for non-decision or no decision.
Singles matches Tournament # Round Opponent Result Score Australian OpenMelbourne, AustraliaGrand SlamHard, outdoor18–31 January 2010 1 Maria Kirilenko 6–7(4–7), 6–3, 4–6 Cellular South Cup Memphis, USA WTA International Hard, indoor 13–21 February 2010 2 Shenay Perry 6–0, 6–2 3 Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6–1, 6–1 4 Elena Baltacha 6–2, 7–5 5 Petra Kvitová 6–4, 6–3 6 Sofia Arvidsson 6–2, 6–1 BNP Paribas OpenIndian Wells, United States of AmericaWTA Premier MandatoryHard, outdoor8–21 March 2010 Bye 7 Vera Dushevina 4–6, 7–5, 6–2 8 Zheng Jie 3–6, 6–2, 3–6 Mutua Madrileña Madrid OpenMadrid, SpainWTA Premier MandatoryClay, outdoor10–16 May 2010 9 Lucie Šafářová 4–6, 3–6 Internationaux de Strasbourg Strasbourg, France WTA International Clay, outdoor 17–22 May 2010 10 Regina Kulikova 6–3, 3–6, 6–1 11 Dia Evtimova 6–3, 6–0 12 Julia Görges 7–6(7–2), 6–1 13 Anabel Medina Garrigues 4–6, 6–2, 6–2 14 Kristina Barrois 7–5, 6–1 French OpenParis, FranceGrand SlamClay, outdoor23 May–6 June 2010 15 Ksenia Pervak 6–3, 6–2 16 Kirsten Flipkens 6–3, 6–3 17 Justine Henin 2–6, 6–3, 3–6 Aegon ClassicBirmingham, Great Britain WTA International Grass, outdoor7–13 June 2010 18 Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6–0, 6–3 19 Alla Kudryavtseva 6–3, 6–1 20 Sesil Karatantcheva 6–2, 6–4 21 Alison Riske 6–2, 4–6, 6–1 22 Li Na 5–7, 1–6 The Championships, WimbledonLondon, Great BritainGrand SlamGrass, outdoor21 June–4 July 2010 23 Anastasia Pivovarova 6–1, 6–0 24 Ioana Raluca Olaru 6–1, 6–4 25 Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová 7–5, 6–3 26 Serena Williams 6–7(9–11), 4–6 Bank of the West ClassicStanford, United States of AmericaWTA PremierHard, outdoor26 July–1 August 2010 27 Zheng Jie 6–4, 7–5 28 Olga Govortsova 6–3, 6–3 29 Elena Dementieva 6–4, 2–6, 6–3 30 Agnieszka Radwańska 1–6, 6–2, 6–2 31 Victoria Azarenka 4–6, 1–6 Western and Southern Financial Group Women's OpenCincinnati, United States of AmericaWTA PremierHard, outdoor9–15 August 2010 32 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–4, 1–6, 6–2 33 Andrea Petkovic 6–3, 6–1 34 Agnieszka Radwańska 6–2, 6–3 35 Marion Bartoli 6–1, 6–4 36 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6–4, 3–6, 6–2 37 Kim Clijsters 6–2, 6–7(4–7), 2–6 US OpenNew York, United States of AmericaGrand SlamHard, outdoor30 August–13 September 2010 38 Jarmila Gajdošová 4–6, 6–3, 6–1 39 Iveta Benešová 6–1, 6–2 40 Beatrice Capra 6–0, 6–0 41 Caroline Wozniacki 3–6, 4–6 Toray Pan Pacific OpenTokyo, JapanWTA Premier 5Hard, outdoor27 September–2 October 2010 42 Kimiko Date-Krumm 5–7, 6–3, 3–6 China OpenBeijing, ChinaWTA Premier MandatoryHard, outdoor2–11 October 2010 43 Tsvetana Pironkova 6–4, 7–6(7–5) 44 Elena Vesnina 6–7(3–7), 2–6
Tournament schedule
Singles Schedule DateChampionshipLocationCategorySurfacePrev. resultNew resultOutcome 18 January 2010–31 January 2010 Australian Open Melbourne (AUS) Grand Slam tournament Hard DNP 1R Lost in the first round against Maria Kirilenko 13 February 2010–21 February 2010 Cellular South Cup Memphis (USA) WTA International Hard (i) DNP W Won in the final against Sofia Arvidsson 8 March 2010–21 March 2010 BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells (USA) WTA Premier Mandatory Hard DNP 3R Lost in the third round against Zheng Jie 10 May 2010–16 May 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open Madrid (ESP) WTA Premier Mandatory Clay DNP 1R Lost in the first round against Lucie Šafářová 17 May 2010–22 May 2010 Internationaux de Strasbourg Strasbourg (FRA) WTA International Clay DNP W Won in the final against Kristina Barrois 23 May 2010–6 June 2010 French Open Paris (FRA) Grand Slam Clay QF 3R Lost in the third round against Justine Henin 7 June 2010–13 June 2010 Aegon Classic Birmingham (GBR) WTA International Grass DNP F Lost in the final against Li Na 21 June 20104 July 2010 The Championships, Wimbledon London (GBR) Grand Slam Grass 2R 4R Lost in the fourth round against Serena Williams 26 July 2010–1 August 2010 Bank of the West Classic Stanford (USA) WTA Premier Hard QF F Lost in the final against Victoria Azarenka 9 August 2010–15 August 2010 Western and Southern Financial Group Women's Open Cincinnati (USA) WTA Premier 5 Hard DNP F Lost in the final against Kim Clijsters 30 August 201013 September 2010 US Open New York (USA) Grand Slam Hard 3R 4R Lost in the fourth round against Caroline Wozniacki 27 September 2010–2 October 2010 Toray Pan Pacific Open Tokyo (JPN) WTA Premier 5 Hard W 1R Lost in the first round against Kimiko Date-Krumm 2 October 2010–11 October 2010 China Open Beijing (CHN) WTA Premier Mandatory Hard 3R 2R Lost in the second round against Elena Vesnina
Yearly records
Head-to-head matchups Ordered by percentage, number of victories to number of losses, then in alphabetical order
Bethanie Mattek-Sands 2–0 Agnieszka Radwańska 2–0