Sharapova won’t play again before US Open

Originally published on: 14/08/13 00:00

The Russian crashed out of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati at the hands of Sloane Stephens on her return from a hip injury.

Her first competitive match under the guidance of new coach Jimmy Connors, Sharapova made 62 unforced errors as she slumped to a 2-6 7-6(5) 6-3 defeat in Ohio.

The world No.3 started off brightly, showing no signs of injury from the hip problem that she suffered at Wimbledon last month, taking the opening set.

However, Stephens, a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon, rallied from 6-2 2-0 down to secure her place in the third round.

After skipping the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford and subsequently the Rogers Cup in Toronto with a hip injury, Sharapova says she will stick to her original schedule and intends to return to her training base in Florida to put in the hard yards on the practice court ahead of the final Grand Slam of the year.

“I'm planning on playing a lot of matches in New York, and just for the body it's tough to play a week before if you're planning on doing extremely well in that event,” she told reporters. "I've just never done it in my career, so why start now? … I'll probably go to Florida. I train there a lot. I have a home there, so pretty close.”

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