Great point from both, lucky netcord gets Laura off the mark. 15-0
Looked like a nice one-two punch but its called out. Laura challenges and its just missed 15-15
Awesome forehand from Laura!! 30-15
This time the one-two punch works perfectly 40-15. One more Laura!!
Laura guarantees a tie-break with a fab first serve and puts away the stretched return
6-5* This doesnt have the usual air of inevitablity some under-dog matches have. The crowd are really routing for Laura and spurring her on, Maria not firing on all cylinders, if you'll excuse the cliche
Maria hammers the serve, Robbo returns but Maria opens the court up and Laura hits it long 15-0
Missed first serve, good return but FH winner off the next shot 30-0
Looked like an ace but let called, misses the first serve by some distance. Good second serve but Laura wins the rally off a FH error. 30-15 and a small chance here
Stronger serving from Sharapova than earlier in the set. 40-15
Another good serve and put away of the return. 6-6. TB.
Sharapova being allowed a comfort break immediately after being broken - clear tactical disruption to Lauras rhythm and something Laura has struggled with before but still really irritated me that Sharapova was allowed to keep Laura waiting.
The second was how Sharapovas screeching gets noticeably louder on tenser points is just shameful. The day the ITF ban screaming the better, but lets not recycle that oldie.
A lot to be proud of for Laura, who as expected showed some sensational ball striking. Lets hope for a good run in the mixed and then prep for the US Open. Still an exciting time for Laura as she continues to make strides in the top 100. Her movement and forehand were great. Serve definitely not so great.
Very good effort from Laura today, the one difference between the two was probably the 2nd serve.
Whilst both made several double faults, Sharapova's 2nd serve was very good when it went in with several aces, which accounts for Maria winning 62% on 2nd serve to Laura's 42% (Laura won 79% on 1st serve to Maria's 70%).
Laura just allowed herself to get a bit down (understandably) after losing the first set, which cost her at the start of the second, and her ball toss went completely in her last service game. Apart from that, she was toe to toe with Maria throughout the match. The really positive thing for Laura is that she has play 8 top 50 opponents since the start of the Grass court season and all 8 have been close, with 4 wins and 4 defeats.
I was already thinking how much this tournament had mirrored Wimbledon 2011 for Laura: Playing another left hander in the first round, and then waiting all through the second day before finally getting on court on the third day. Playing Sharapova in the 2nd round and now producing the exact same 6-7 3-6 scoreline.