Sharapova and Azarenka are scheduled to meet tonight in one of the day's best match-ups.
Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka are scheduled to meet tonight from the Premier Mandatory event in Rome. The match is a quarterfinal match as the two top ten players eye the semifinal round.
Azarenka enters the match with a slight lead on head-to-heads as she has defeated Sharapova in three of their five matches. That includes their two most recent matches, both of which were hard court finals, while tonight's quarterfinal from Rome will be their first clay court meeting.
Azarenka is the player on better form as she won the Marbella title not long ago and she made the final in Madrid last weekend.
Sharapova is playing well but she hasn't really proven a lot on clay so far this season with just the round of 16 appearance in Madrid from last week.
Bet365 consider Azarenka the favorite at 4/7 but with her two titles already in 2011, including one in another Premier Mandatory event, she might properly be considered a heavier favorite than what her price implies.
This match starts soon (7:30pm CET) so we'll cut to the chase: Azarenka in three.
