Defending champion Maria Sharapova blamed her rhythm as she fell victim to local favourite Kimiko Date Krumm in the first round of the Pan Pacific Open women's tennis tournament yesterday.
Defending champion Maria Sharapova blamed her rhythm as she fell victim to local favourite Kimiko Date Krumm in the first round of the Pan Pacific Open women's tennis tournament yesterday.
The Russian 12th seed, who also won here in 2005, dug her own grave by hitting 11 double faults ufffdnine of them in her broken-service games ufffd to go down 5-7, 6-3, 3-6 to the Japanese.
The former World No 1 Russian said: "My opponent played really a solid match. I didn't feel comfortable throughout. Rhythm wasn't there and I couldn't take an advantage. Her style of play is quite different. Her strokes are pretty fast, she stays inside the baseline and takes the ball early, so the style is different from the majority on the tour."
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