Under the bright lights of the US Open, Maria Sharapova brings her best.
With victories in the first two rounds of this year's tournament, the 2006 champion has improved her career record in US Open night matches to 22-0.
She extended that winning streak on Saturday night, to 22-0, knocking out former French Open champion and No. 10 seed, Jelena Ostapenko, in the third round inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, 6-3, 6-2.
Though she is appearing in her 12th US Open, it took the Russian awhile to fall in love with the buzz of the Big Apple.
"You can't really shy away from noise if you want to be a champion in New York City, right? I think you have to embrace it."
"I actually didn't grow up enjoying playing or actually being in New York City. It was very intimidating as a teenager. I've really embraced it, I believe, in the last decade or so," Sharapova said, after her first round victory over Switzerland's Patty Schnyder.
"You can't really shy away from noise if you want to be a champion in New York City, right? I think you have to embrace it. There's always an amazing amount of energy, no matter what court you play on in New York in the evening.
"Ever since my victory [in 2006], I've loved it. I've learned how to use the energies. No matter if you're up or down, [the crowd]...is able to lift you up or falls hard for the underdog. You feel like there's so many flows within a match from the crowd."
Sharapova arrived in New York short on match play, as she was forced to withdraw from the US Open Series events in both San Jose and Cincinnati. In her lone appearance in the leadup to the US Open, she lost to France's Caroline Garcia in the third round of Montreal.
"I feel like that's kind of been the story of this year: coming into events with not enough matches. I'm just trying to handle it the best way I can," she assessed. "Grouping those matches on the clay was good. Other than that, it's just kind of been like that for me, unfortunately, this year."
Though she's been forced to battle and find her rhythm on court through the first two rounds, Sharapova hasn't dropped a set ahead of her clash against fellow Grand Slam champion Ostapenko, who has gone the distance in each of her first two matches.
Regardless of who is on the other side of the net, Sharapova's been looking squarely inward so far this fortnight – away from the hustle and bustle of the raucous New York crowd she's come to love.
"I'm doing the best that I can. Sometimes, your body doesn't quite cooperate exactly the way you want it to. For me, I think just stepping away from who I'm playing, zoning in on what I need to improve on, that will be my focus."
