Sharapova repays adoring PH crowd with epic win

MANILA, Philippines – Maria Sharapova was regaled with a royal welcome from her adoring Filipino fans and she repaid that with an epic never-say-die victory in her first singles match here.

Sharapova fought back from 2-5 deficit against Kristina Mledanovic to give the Manila Mavericks their lone win in their opening tie against the UAE Royals.

“I didn’t want to lose my first singles match in Manila,” Sharapova said in the post-match interview to the roaring approval of the sizeable crowd that showed up in the opening day of the Coca-Cola International Premier Tennis League.

Sharapova did not think twice to come over to Manila as she recognized that a big chunk of her social media followers came from this country.

And she did not want to spoil the night, not after losing in the mixed doubles with fellow Grand Slam winner Andy Murray earlier. 

Read: Sharapova wins but Mavericks fall to Royals

Sharapova and Murray also rallied from 1-5 down to come within one, 4-5, against Nenad Zimonic and Mledanovic to the delight of the crowd. But they fell short in the end as the Royals took the set, 6-4.

Buoyed up by the 12,000-strong opening day crowd, Sharapova won a long rally to force a shootout in the singles match. She opened the five-minute tie-breaker with a 7-2 lead and never looked back.

As the clock was winding down, Sharapova regaled the crowd with a “raise-the-roof” victory dance.

She will have her hands full when she meets Ana Ivanovic in the highly-anticipated women’s singles match on Saturday.

Read: Ivanovic blanks Hantuchova as Aces beat Slammers in IPTL opener

Ivanovic blanked Daniela Hantuchova earlier in the day. But the night belonged to Sharapova, who was the clear-cut crowd favorite.