It will be a blockbuster match tomorrow, or so hope Maria Sharapova. She will be going up against Justine Henin for their tenth career meeting.
The Belgian holds 6-3 record against Sharapova, but the good news is the last time they met, the Russian won easily down under including a bagel set.
“We’ve had some great matches in the past,” Sharapova said. “I’ve had some tough losses and great wins. I look forward to this one.”
Both of them are going through a comeback to say the least with Henin coming back from retirement and Sharapova coming back from shoulder surgery.
“It’s going to be an interesting match,” Henin said. “Comes very early, of course, third round, but I expect a big fight as we always had in the past. It’s going to be very exciting to play her again in the second career. The motivation is going to be really high just to keep going in this tournament.”
The real bad news here is this is clay, not Sharapova’s best surface.
I really do enjoy it,” Sharapova said. “I’ve learned a lot playing on it the last few years. It doesn’t affect me as it did many years ago, because I knew I couldn’t last quite as long as I feel that I can now.”