Sports
Sharapova wins easy but booed by crowd
Paris, May 26
Defending champion Maria
Sharapova made it easy through to the second round of women's singles at
Roland Garros but was booed after refusing to do a post-match interview
inside Court Philippe Chatrier here.
The World No.2 tennis
player on Monday beat Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-2, 6-4 in just an hour
and 25 minutes on the court where she twice claimed the French Open in
2012 and 2014. Having made only four unforced errors, the 28-year-old
won three games in a row to wrap up the first set, reports Xinhua.
Kanepi
buried a backhand into the net to hand Sharapova a break in the fourth
game of the second, but broke back, making use of the Russian's unforced
errors. The 187 cm tall Russian then wasted a match point before
wrapping up the contest in straight sets on a double fault from the
Estonian.
Boos from the crowd, however, jammed the stadium after
the emcee announced that Sharapova "preferred not to get interviewed
since her voice is broken" while the second seed was packing to leave.
Famous for her grunt, Sharapova, a five-time Major winner who came here
with a big clay win in Rome two weeks ago, kept a lower tone in Monday's
routine win.
"I got sick a week before the tournament, not right
before. So I guess it's a little bit better timing. But it's just the
way it is. I'm getting over it and hopefully it will pass by soon.
Unless I'm really in my coffin, I'm going to be out there," Sharapova
said with laughter.
"Overall, I am just happy I got through and have a day off and I should be better by then."
She didn't think it was harsh to be booed at the end, saying she "totally understands that".
"Everyone
usually does post-game interviews and answers a few questions to the
crowd. It's absolutely normal. I don't -- I'm not making any excuses or
-- but I've got to do what I have to do," she said.
Sharapova,
who has collected all four Grand Slam trophies since she claimed her
maiden Major victory in 2004 at Wimbledon as a 17-year-old, will face
fellow Russian Vitalia Diatchenko in the second round.