Maria Takes Down the Champ

"I think it was one of the most consistent matches where I did all the things I wanted to do, and I did them correctly from the beginning to the end except having a little letdown in the end of that first set. I felt like I did many things right, and I just played the way I can play."
- Maria Sharapova

"She served consistent and she's been much more aggressive and looked like it was her day and probably her tournament, so she's in great shape. She looks really confident now, and she has a great chance to do it, I think."
- Justine Henin

Those were post-match quotes from Maria Sharapova's masterpiece victory over Justine Henin. It was a bit of a shocker because Henin hasn't lost in 33 matches and has been a Federer-like opponent for the past year. The first set started out as a one-sided contest with Sharapova getting off to a great start, but Henin made a run and nearly came back to win it. The composed Sharapova was able to shutdown her opponent's late rally with some clutch plays. I thought Henin's rally would carryover to the next set, but I was way wrong as it ended up being a shutout. The final score was 6-4, 6-0.

I think Maria Sharapova is one of the most physically talented players on the women's side. She certainly puts the work into it also. She tends to get defeated when she overthinks her gameplan. If she can get over that in each match, she should be very hard to defeat. She did that against the top seed.