“This is a marathon, not a sprint,” Maria Sharapova said in response to…
In tennis, the rivalry between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova was one of the most one-sided, with the American defeating the Russian all but twice. The two have fought fiercely in a handful of their matches, most notably their Australian Open semifinal in 2005.
Having started as the seventh seed, Serena Williams defeated Amelie Mauresmo, the second seed, in the quarterfinals to get to the last four. Fourth seed Maria Sharapova, who defeated fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in her last round, was her opponent here.
Williams advanced to the final by winning the next two sets, 7-5 and 8-6, despite the Russian’s 6-2 first-set victory. Throughout the match, Sharapova had three match points, but she was unable to convert any of them.
During her news conference after the game, the then-17-year-old was challenged about not converting either of her match points. In response, Sharapova said that she cursed herself for making the mistake and insisted that the match was more like a marathon than a sprint.
To win her second Australian Open title, Serena Williams defeated Lindsay Davenport, the top-seeded player, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the championship match.
Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams faced off 22 times, with nine of those encounters ending in Grand Slams.
