TENNIS in DEPTH.

Maria Sharapova was taken down by the red hot German Andrea Petkovic 6-2, 6-3 in the fourth round. of Australian Open 2011. While Petkovic has been a rising player for the past year and was given a real chance at an upset coming into the match, the way she thoroughly dismantled the 2008 Australian Open champion was shocking, as she took the ball early and consistently backed up the three-time Grand Slam champion. Petkovic played a very clean match, smoking 13 winners and committing only nine unforced errors ,while Sharapova committed 30 unforced errors and hit only 14 winners. “It’s probably the best match I played on such a big stage,” said the 23-year-old German, who reached the quarterfinals of a major for the first time. “I tried to mix it up a little bit. Normally my game is to play very flat and aggressively, but I tried to give it some spin on the forehand and play some slice and mix up my serve. I tried to keep up the percentage of my first serve and tried to return very aggressively. I think I played very well tactically‑wise.”

Sharapova rarely was able to cut loose on her serve, couldn’t find a way top penetrate the German’s service game with her vaunted return and was beaten off the ball time and time again from the backcourt. She joins former No.1s Venus Williams, Ana Ivanovic, Justine Henin, Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic as players who have been sent out of the tournament in the first week. “There are many things that didn’t work today,” Sharapova said. “I didn’t get my first breakpoint until it was a set and 5‑1. That’s not the type of tennis I want to be playing, especially on the return. I mean, I didn’t put any pressure on her serve whatsoever. I wasn’t up Love‑30 or anything on her service games. That’s not the way to play a match.”

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