Maria Sharapova Sharapova Survives at US Open

NEW YORK — Maria Sharapova's slow start almost turned into an early exit at the U.S. Open.
The three-time major champion picked up her game in time to avoid an upset against 102nd-ranked Heather Watson, rallying for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory Monday in the opening round.
After being thoroughly outplayed in the first set, third-seeded Sharapova let a 4-1 lead in the second slip, as well. She shored things up at 5-all in the second to pull out that set. She also led 4-1 in the third, but gave back a break. After that, Sharapova broke right back then served out her match against the 19-year-old Brit, who was making her first appearance in the main draw at Flushing Meadows.Sharapova improved to 12-0 this year in third sets.
"In the end, that's kind of where it counts," she said after a match that lasted 2 hours, 34 minutes. "No matter how tired or whether you're playing your best tennis or sometimes your worst, you keep fighting for it."
Not showing the same kind of fight was fifth-seeded Petra Kvitova, who became the first reigning Wimbledon champion to lose in the first round of the U.S. Open. She made 52 unforced errors in a 7-6 (3), 6-3 loss to Alexandra Dulgheru and has won only two matches since hoisting the trophy at the All-England Club last month.
"After I made some mistakes, I was mentally down," Kvitova said.
Last year's U.S. Open and Wimbledon runner-up, second-seeded Vera Zvonareva, defeated Stephanie Foretz Gacon of France, 6-3, 6-0.
Other women's winners included No. 13 Peng Shuai, No. 19 Julia Goerges and No. 27 Lucie Safarova.
But Sharapova-Watson was the best match of the afternoon.
With Watson nimbly covering a court that players say is playing slower than usual this year, Sharapova had to fight, and the match turned into a showdown of styles — the Russian's punishing, aggressive baseline game vs. Watson's grinding, retrieving relentlessness. The final stats were no surprise: Sharapova finished with 41 winners and 58 unforced errors, compared to nine winners and 30 unforced errors for her opponent.
"There's no doubt that she's a great up-and-coming player who showed some of her best tennis today," Sharapova said. "She played really smart in the first. I was making too many errors. Consistency at the end helped me get through the match."
The early headliner for the men was American Mardy Fish, who at No. 8 is the highest-ranked U.S. player in the tournament.

The 29-year-old from Los Angeles opened the match by losing his serve, but that turned out to be the only hiccup. He is one of 14 American men entered in the U.S. Open, as the host country continues the quest to find its next great champion. No U.S. man has won a major since Andy Roddick won in New York in 2003.
"Andy's been the No. 1 player in our generation for years," Fish said. "This is extremely different for me, this feeling coming out here and trying to show everything you can, to show you're the No. 1 guy, at least for this tournament. It's been a lot of fun.