This content was published 12 years ago. It may refer to a past edition of the Internazionali d’Italia.

We always knew Maria Sharapova was a hard player to beat, but now she has now revealed her stubbornness is also her biggest weakness. Christina McHale played well against the reigning champion but was no match for the Russian’s belligerence in a 7-5, 7-5 defeat.

This was hardly vintage Sharapova and she had difficulty producing her trademark smile at the end of a frustrating contest such was her unwillingness to accept anything but the best. However, the guile and know-how that makes her a champion was there for all to see.

“I am extremely stubborn and in a way its good because I am very involved in things and I suppose that I am always in control and I get involved in things,” admitted the second seed.  “Sometimes I think that this is a weakness as I get really involved in things and so I think sometimes that I should really back off.

“The good think is that I am pretty humble and a lot of things that make me happy and they don’t necessarily have to be big – there are a lot of small things in my life that make me passionate and no matter how many bad days I have had in my career I have always been  good at finding the positive side of this this is what has made me the player that I am and the person that I am today. I don’t take no for an answer and I keep going and fighting for what I believe is right.”

Sharapova was simply relieved to have avoided a potential banana skin against a 20-year-old player who is fast improving.

“I made too many unforced errors in the first part  – part of it was that she was extremely consistent and she made me hit a lot of balls and perhaps I tried to many winners and so I was fortunate to get back into the second set. She has certainly improved since the last time that I played her. I look forward to improving for the next match too. I am happy to win and let’s see what will happen next. 

“The last time I played against her was in the 2009 US Open. She has improved and is more consistent and has two different strokes – her forehand she likes to loop up and her backhand is more of a flatter one and so . She moves pretty well and she makes you hit a lot of ball and her consistency and has the capacity to get back on the ball. I think she has certainly beaten top players in the past years and she is rising in her game and I do think she’ll have a good future.”