MELBOURNE, Australia — Maria Sharapova has been winning professional tennis matches for half her life, which makes her feel as if time is a passing shot whizzing by her. She was 14 years old when she won her first International Tennis Federation match and followed it less than a month later with her first Women’s Tennis Association victory.
“I never thought that I'd be playing at this age, honestly,” Sharapova said Friday at the Australian Open after securing her 600th career win as a professional, a 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-0 defeat of the American Lauren Davis in the third round.