Maria Sharapova
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Maria Kirilenko. The loss meant that for the first time since 2003, Sharapova had lost her opening match at a Grand Slam event. Immediately bouncing back, she competed in the Cellular South Cup, winning her 21st career WTA title and first of the year. At the BNP Paribas Open, Sharapova lost in the third round to Zheng Jie, aggravating a bruised bone on her right elbow in the process, which resulted in her eventual withdrawal from the Sony Ericsson Open, and the Family Circle Cup. Returning at the 2010 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, Sharapova lost in the first round to Lucie Šafářová. She continued her French Open preparation at the Internationaux de Strasbourg with her first title on red clay and 22nd overall title. Her brief clay season culminated with a third round loss to four-time champion Justine Henin at the French Open. Sharapova's next event was her first grass court event of the year, the AEGON Classic, starting June 7. She reached the third round defeating Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-0, 6-3, after receiving a first round bye. She went on to reach the semifinals for the seventh year in a row after eliminating Alla Kudryavtseva and Sesil Karatantcheva in straight sets, where she defeated American qualifier Alison Riske in three sets 6-2, 4-6, 6-1. In the final, she was defeated by the Chinese top seed Na Li, 7-5, 6-1 in one hour and 19 minutes. Sharapova is the 16th seed for Wimbledon and defeated lucky loser Anastasia Pivovarova 6-1, 6-0 in the first round. This was Maria's most convincing grand slam match since the 2007 U.S. Open second round against Casey Dellacqua. In the second round she beat Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-1,
6-4 to advance to the third round, where she defeated Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová 7-5, 6-3. This is the first time Sharapova has reached the fourth round at Wimbledon since 2007 and next she will face the defending champion and rival Serena Williams. Sharapova has lived in the United States since moving there at the age of six, but retains her Russian citizenship, and is therefore eligible to play in the Fed Cup for Russia. However, the behavior of Sharapova's father during her matches on the WTA Tour, combined with a perceived lack of commitment by her to the Fed Cup, has made her selection for the Russian Fed Cup team cause controversy in the past. After Sharapova had beaten fellow Russian Anastasia Myskina at the 2004 WTA Tour Championships, Myskina criticized Sharapova's father, saying: "He was just yelling and screaming instructions to her and I thought he just might jump right on the court at one point in the match." At the Fed Cup semi-finals two weeks later Myskina stated she would stop playing for Russia if Sharapova joined the Russian team the following season: "If she joins our team next season you won't see me there for sure. His behaviour is totally incorrect, simply rude. I don't want to be around people like him." Larisa Neiland, assistant to Russia Fed Cup captain Shamil Tarpishchev, added: "Her father's behaviour (at the WTA Tour Championships) was simply
Fed Cup participation