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Russian tennis chief: Sharapova capable of winning 2018 French Open

Sharapova cruised on Thursday into the third round of the 2018 French Open

MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/. Russia’s renowned tennis player Maria Sharapova is demonstrating a decent play at the 2018 French Open and is in the group of players, who are likely to win the prestigious annual tennis tournament, President of the Russian Tennis Federation (RTF) Shamil Tarpishchev told TASS.

Sharapova cruised on Thursday into the third round of the 2018 French Open, the second Grand Slam tournament of the year with $45.7 million in prize money up for grabs. The Russian, seeded 28th, cleared the second round of the Roland-Garros tournament, held on May 21-June 10, with 7-5; 6-4 straight sets win over Donna Vekic from Croatia.

"The most important for Maria is to keep training her nerves," Tarpishchev said. "She plays decently in terms of the quality, but Sharapova is unstable in terms of psychology, because her nervous system lacked training. Maria can win in the next round is she is stable and puts up a high tempo."

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Russia’s Sharapova clears second round of 2018 French Open with straight sets win

The Russian tennis player, who is the 2012 and 2014 winner of the Roland Garros tournaments, will face in the next round 6-seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic.

"On the whole, if we speak about the most likely winner in ladies’ singles, Paris offers a cocktail of them," Tarpishchev said. "About 12 people are capable of vying for the victory and Sharapova is among them."

Sharapova is Russia’s most decorated tennis player having won a total of five Grand Slam tournaments, namely the Australian Open in 2008, the French Open in 2012 and 2014, Wimbledon in 2004 and the US Open in 2006. She also clinched the silver in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and was the 2008 Federations Cup champion.

After the 15-month long suspension, imposed in 2016 for violating anti-doping regulations, Sharapova made her comeback to tennis in April 2017.

Last October, Sharapova won the 2017 WTA Tianjin Open in China and it was her first tournament to win since May 2015.

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