By: Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
THE world witnessed one of the most unusual match-ups in a major tournament with two former number 1 players battling it out in the first round.
Serena Williams demolished Maria Sharapova in the first round of the US Open, 6-1, 6-1, to reach the second round of the prized major tournament.
The American Williams only took 59 minutes to hand Sharapova of Russia one of her few first-round losses of her career.
Dropping heavy groundstrokes and powerful passing shots, Williams never gave Sharapova a chance as she punished the Russian from both the backhand and the forehand.
The rivalry between the two was seen too early in the tournament as fans wanted them to meet in the semifinals or the quarters, not the first round.
The two players seem to be on the downtrend of their careers seeing their world rankings drop down with Williams currently in 8 and Sharapova from a top 10 to only 87.
The first round match up for a world number 87 and a number 8 is never new in the sport of tennis as low ranks and high ranks are randomly crossed matched for the match-ups.
