Porsche Tennis Grand Prix 1st Round: Caroline Garcia vs Maria Sharapova

One of the clay court tournaments on WTA tour , Porsche Tennis Grand Prix has started.  First round matches are playing today. There are very important players attending this tournament such as Simona Halep, Karolina Pliskova, Julia Goerges, Elina Svitolina, Angie Kerber, Garbine Muguzura, Maria Sharapova and so on.

Today's match I choose to write is between Maria Sharapova and Caroline Garcia. These two players played against each other 4 times before and Maria leads 4-0. Maria Sharapova is one of the most talented tennis players on tour. Her forehands, her straight deep ground strokes, her service, her spirit makes her tennis worth to watch.

After drug related suspension- which she was clarified accusations later- she did comeback last year and she didn't play a lot of matches. This year she played Indian Wells at March and beaten by Naomi Osaka.

Now we have a chance to look at her game closely at Porsche Grand Prix Tournament in Stuttgart. As she was the champion of this event in 2012-2013-2014, she was invited here with wild card.

Maria Sharapova (41) started first set serving and quickly she broke Garcia's (6) service. Score was 3-0 at once. Garcia could manage to get 3 games later in this set but Maria was better player. She had 7 winners , 2 unforced errors while her opponent had 1 winner and 7 unforced error.

Garcia started second set more aggressively so she could hold on her service games. Once she had a chance to break Maria's service but Maria could play under stress better and her service skills are better than Garcia. 

Second set was more balanced. Garcia's game was much better than the first set. She forced Maria's service to break and found chances. Some of them Maria could defend but in the 6.game of the set she broke Maria's service and Garcia leads 4-2.  There was more competition and excitement in this set. But I think , to deal with stress and pressure is important as break your opponent's service game. After breaking Sharapova's service, Caroline Garcia could not hold the pressure and broken. 4-3.

Both players took their service games. Today Maria Sharapova made double faults but also she served 13 aces. She took her service game once more and made it 6-6. Tie-break !! Garcia was better at tie-break and took second set 7-6.

In third set games took longer as both players had some chances to break services and they did break services mutually. It was 4-4. After 4-4 which was a very dangerous part of the match, Garcia broke once more Sharapova's service and served for the match. She dealed with pressure very good and took the set 6-4 and the match 3-6, 6-7, 4-6. After first set, Garcia was a different player. She was more confident, more aggressive, more determined to win this match. She made a very good and solid defense, she was like a wall against Sharapova.

I found Maria's performance good, she doesn't look so rusty to me. She needs to play more matches to be quicker on court. She also made 10 double faults, she needs to work on that department. But no matter how long she is away, it is clearly seen that a big champion is on court. 

On the other hand, Caroline Garcia found a way to beat her for the first time. She will face 15 year-old Martha Kostyuk (Ukr) in second round. 

*Photo taken from offical Porsche Tennis page and Garcia instagram page.