Sports
Maria Sharapova Wins Big For OC Breakers
Maria Sharapova, OC Breakers win over the San Diego Aviators in a World TeamTennis match at OC Breakers Stadium. Here's what happened.
NEWPORT BEACH, CA — An evening of tennis amounted to big wins for the OC Breakers at the Palisades Tennis Club in Newport Beach.
Maria Sharapova won both her sets Monday evening, helping the Orange County Breakers to a 22-19 victory over the San Diego Aviators in a World TeamTennis match at OC Breakers Stadium.
Sharapova, who had five stints as the No. 1 player on the Women's Tennis Association singles rankings, most recently in 2012, began the match by teaming with Andreja Klepac for a 5-2 victory over Darija Jurak and Shelby Rogers.
Find out what's happening in Newport Beach-Corona Del Marfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Sharapova then defeated Rogers, 5-3, in the second set, women's singles.
The Aviators (4-3) then won the next two sets. Rajeev Ram, in his first match for San Diego, and Raven Klassen, defeated Steve Johnson and Ken Skupski, 5-3 in men's doubles. Klassen and Jurak defeated Klepac and Skupski, 5-4, in mixed doubles, cutting the Breakers lead to 17-15.
Find out what's happening in Newport Beach-Corona Del Marfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Johnson clinched the match for the Breakers (4-3) with a 5-4 victory over Ram in men's singles.
The two teams will meet again Tuesday at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad.
The match was Sharapova's second and final one for the Breakers in 2017 as she attempts to return to form from a thigh injury that has kept her out of tournament tennis since May 16 when she was forced to retire from her second- round match in the Rome Open as she was leading Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 4-6, 6-3, 2-1.
Sharapova split two sets in the Breakers 17-14 loss to the Aviators July 16 at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in the season opener for both teams, the first time Sharapova played competitively since May 16.
Sharapova was suspended Jan. 26, 2016, by the International Tennis Federation for an anti-doping rule violation. She regained her eligibility to play on April 26.
Sharapova reached the semifinals of her first tournament following her suspension, the $719,000 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, then lost in the second round of both her tournaments since then.
Credit: Julian Finney / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.