Maria Sharapova says her goal is “to get better and improve” at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel after reaching the quarter-finals.
The top seed booked her place in the last eight in Acapulco with a dominant 6-1 6-2 victory over Mariana Duque-Marino in just 68 minutes on Wednesday.
Sharapova, playing the WTA Mexican event for the second time in her career, had to come from behind in her first-round match against Shelby Rogers after going 3-0 down in the opening set.
But she improved in her latest match, winning 76% of her first service points and converting six break points. The world number two hopes to carry on improving as the tournament goes on, with a place in the semi-finals up for grabs when she takes on Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova.
“The goal is to get better and improve as I go further in the tournament,” Sharapova told the WTA Tour’s official website.
“The day before yesterday in my first match I had to make some little adjustments while I was playing, but today I really felt better.
“In the end it got a little bit tough – I got broken back a couple of times – but overall I’m very happy with the way that I played. I felt pretty solid out there.”
Sharapova is now the clear favourite to win the tournament after second seed Sara Errani was upset by 21-year-old Monica Puig.
The Russian is 1.05 to win the quarter-final while Rybarikova is the outsider at 9.33.
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