French exposure a boost for Astra Sharma

Astra Sharma is content she’s made the most of her lucky break despite a second-round French Open exit.

The Australian is now ready to pick apart her game before next year’s home summer.

The stylish 25-year-old was a last-minute addition to the Roland Garros main draw as a replacement, despite losing in the final round of qualifying.

A surprise three-set victory over Anna Blinkova shot her into the second round, where she fell 6-3 6-3 in just over an hour on Wednesday to another Russian, 27th seed Ekatarina Alexandrova.

Sharma said those five matches were precious in a season of uncertainty which, because of the coronavirus, forced her take a punt on where her next match may come from.

“Five matches at that sort of level; that’s incredible to take away and lessons learned,” she said.

“Whenever you play at this level you’re exposed quite a bit on what lapsed.”

Sharma may return to the American circuit once her doubles duties conclude in Paris, because spots in higher-level European main draw events were likely out of reach for the world No.125.

“It’s been up in the air for most of it; you commit to some events, they get cancelled and you’re left stranded so you try to predict,” the 25-year-old said.

“You’re trying to plan and with there not being many tournaments going on, the ones that are are really strong and hard to get into.

“At the end of the day it’s just luck, those are all factors.”

Sharma will pocket about $140,000 for her efforts in Paris and is confident she can keep that momentum ahead of a return to Australia.

“Coming into the Australian summer, I’ve got a lot of time to get better and push these girls at a higher level,” she said.

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