The 21-year-old Gavrilova, who was born in Moscow and is headquartered in Australia, got his first win over a top-10 player with aplomb effort, aggressive before a crowd near the tennis stadium capacity.
Sharapova said she went into the game knowing little about Gavrilova. But Gavrilova was very familiar with Sharapova, born in Siberia.
” I’ve been dreaming beat Maria since I was probably 12 when I saw her Wimbledon win, ” said Gavrilova. ” She was my idol. She was simply huge in Russia. ”
Sharapova lost serve four times, I had problems with his back and found himself in a succession of long points, thanks to the defensive skills than 5 feet 5 inches Gavrilova.
” She runs a lot of balls down, ” Sharapova said. ” I was making a lot of mistakes out of those balls, not really stay patient and only winners will too. ”
Venus Williams began his 16th appearance in Key Biscayne by beating qualifier Urszula Radwanska 6-3, 6-2. The sister Radwanska, Agnieszka, won, like former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki.
Sharapova then delayed for 3-love in the second set and could never draw. When he failed in his last shot, Gavrilova pirouetted and landed with a big smile.
She had previously been 0-4 against among 10 players.
” I have always believed, and that’s probably why I won, ” he told the crowd. ” I was very composed. I told myself to keep believing and keep trying. ”
Ranked 97th, Gavrilova cracked the top 100 this week for the first time. She is making a comeback from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in 2013.
Del Potro, who won the US Open 2009, had wrist surgery a year ago and played in only four tournaments in 2014. His ranking has dropped to No. 616, and his rustiness showed against Pospisil, to the disappointment of a crowd partisan stadium rooting for Argentina.
