Peng preparing for Sharapova showdown

Peng Shuai, China’s last hope at Wimbledon, said she would be ready for Maria Sharapova when the 20th seed goes head to head with the Russian 2004 champion.

Peng and fifth seed Sharapova face off in a fourth round clash on the 4,000-seater Court 2 today for a place in the quarter-finals.

Sharapova was full of praise for the Chinese number two and said she would have to be well prepared to face the 25-year-old.

“She has a great game for the grass,” the Siberian said.

“She hits really flat, stays quite low. Her shots come pretty deep. The last time we played was in Indian Wells earlier this year. It was a tough match.”

Peng said: “I will have to be ready because she’s a really good player. Her game is also good on grass because she’s tall, has a big serve, forehand and backhand.

“I will try to fight and play hopefully some good tennis.”

Sharapova won that quarter-final at Indian Wells in three sets and beat Peng on the Berlin clay in 2005. However, the Chinese won on their only other clash on the Beijing hard courts in 2008.

Peng has equalled her best-ever Grand Slam performance, having made the fourth round at this year’s Australian Open.

She is the only remaining Chinese in the singles after French Open winner Li Na was beaten by Germany’s Sabine Lisicki and Zheng Jie went out to Japanese qualifier Misaki Doi in the second round.

Peng is on a career-high world ranking of 20 and is the highest-ranked player without a singles title to her name.

She made it into the fourth round by beating Hungary’s Melinda Czink 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) on Saturday.

Last 16 pairings
Women’s singles: Wozniacki vs Cibulkova; Peng vs Sharapova; Lisicki vs Cetkovska; Bartoli vs Serena Williams; Paszek vs Pervak; Petrova vs Azarenka; Kvitova vs Wickmayer; Venus Williams vs Pironkova.
Men’s singles: Nadal vs Del Potro; Fish vs Berdych; Murray vs Gasquet; Kubot vs Lopez; Ferrer vs Tsonga; Youzhny vs Federer; Tomic vs Malisse; Llodra vs Djokovic.