"I get knocked down, but I get up again, you ain't never gonna keep me down!"
Please be sure to watch the fall and the MULTIPLE slow-mo shots. Best not to have any liquids around you.
But leave it to Masha to take a less than glamourous spill on break point to go down 0-2 to Caro, only to get up and reel off five straight games and take the match 75 63, avenging two straight embarassing losses to Caro.
This was a big one, folks. You can tell by Masha's reaction:
Maria Sharapova decisively beating Caroline Wozniacki on clay? This one will resonate in both the Pova and the Woz camps. Papa Woz was beside himself for most of the match, shaking his head and agitatedly gesticulating to or at anyone who would listen. Meanwhile, the Book on Woz gets written and refined with each of these losses: Serve to her forehand, hit behind her, get to the net, and take a whack when you get the chance.
Steadiness isn't going to get it done on the slow red clay for Woz. She's been overpowered and forced to come back to earth on the stuff, with losses to Gools in Stuttgart and Madrid, and Masha here in Rome. I thought she would go into RG in a wide-open field as the odds-on favorite by default (i.e.: none of the above), but her chances of shaking that "No Slam" tag are looking slim.
So. Masha vs. Sam. I shall be sitting back with a box of popcorn and a huge shit-eating grin. My ladies got game, yo.
(Pic: Getty, Forty Deuce)
