1/WC Maria Sharapova d Regina Kilukova - 63 36 61
Maria has had an interesting year. She began it at the Australian Open where she was promptly shown the door in the 1st round. Her next tournament was in Memphis where she thrashed her opponents to win the title - of course being a very small tourney the highest ranked player she faced was #70. She then went to Indian Wells and won a round just to discover that she had injured her elbow. She was forced to sit out the next six weeks. She returned to play last week in Madrid where she lost in the 1st round. She then turned to the organizers of the event in Strasbourg for a wildcard to help her get some matches before Roland Garros next week where she has 500 quarterfinal points to defend.
Maria is currently ranked #12. She may not improve her ranking during the remaining weeks on clay but she lost early at Wimbledon last year and will surely put together a deeper run this year. I am not the biggest Maria fan but I do recognize her value to the game and would like to see her back among the top 10 again - injury-free and making an impact.
Photo: Reuters
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