US Open 2019 news - Serena and Sharapova step into spotlight for another instalment in uneven feud

The first time Serena Williams played Maria Sharapova on a hard court, the Russian was still a teenager.

It was 2004, and the pair faced off in the Round of 16 at the Miami Open. Williams was already a two-time champion at both Wimbledon and the US Open, and had also won titles at the Australian Open and Roland Garros. The 22-year-old had long been established as one of the world's best players, first hitting the pinnacle of the rankings almost two years previously.

The Russian had been on the radar for a while, making her professional debut at the age of 14, and finishing as runner-up at two of the junior Grand Slam events. She made a splash in the main draw of Wimbledon in 2003, reaching the fourth round after beating 11th seed Jelena Dokic.

Facing Williams - on her home turf, mind - would be a difficult prospect for anyone, least of all an inexperienced teenager. Williams crushed the upstart 6-4, 6-3.

Perhaps Williams would have felt quietly confident when she faced the same opposition a few months later, on the grass of Wimbledon. After all, SW19 had almost become a second home for the Williams sisters; Venus had won the title in 2000 and 2001, Serena in 2002 and 2003 (by beating her sister both times, in three thrilling sets).

But this second match against Sharapova was in the Wimbledon final. The 17-year-old had already beaten two Americans in her run to the final, defeating Amy Frazier in straight sets in Round 4, then Lindsay Davenport in an epic semi-final, 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-1.

And she added Serena's scalp to her collection with a 6-1, 6-4 triumph. She followed it up with another trouncing at a showpiece event a few months later, beating Williams 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the year-end WTA Tour Finals. Sharapova was talked of as the next big thing; her rivalry with Williams was expected to dominate the next decade of women's tennis.

After that, though, Sharapova struggled to make any kind of in-roads in Serena's game whenever they faced off again. Perhaps in a partial effort to compete physically, the Russian bulked up in 2006, reflecting before the 2007 Australian Open: "I gained a lot of muscles last year...I definitely feel physically stronger than I was here two years ago. I feel much more experienced."

But in both those Melbourne matches she ended up beaten by Williams; in 2005, losing 2-6, 7-5, 8-6 in the semifinal, then a much more resounding 6-1, 6-2 in the 2007 final.

In fact, they have now played 21 times - and Sharapova still only has those two wins to her credit.

Indeed, since their fourth-ever meeting at the 2005 Australian Open, Sharapova has only taken three sets off Williams.

It seems perhaps slightly exaggerated to call something so one-sided a rivalry; Sharapova herself seems to have inflated the impact she has had on Williams, writing in her 2017 memoir Unstoppable: "Serena Williams has marked the heights and the limits of my career - our stories are intertwined,” Sharapova writes. “It was Serena whom I beat in the Wimbledon final to emerge on the international stage at seventeen, and it’s Serena who’s given me the hardest time since.”

Sharapova also referred in the book to Williams weeping in the locker room after the 2004 Wimbledon final, as well as Williams's size, and her own slightness - despite the Russian actually being the taller of the pair, by five inches. This narrative she seems to peddle, in which she is a tiny battling David to Williams's merciless, cruel Goliath, is not an accurate one, and Williams has opted for sly digs at the inaccuracies - as well as the negative mindset.

“I feel like women, especially, should bring each other up," Williams said after Sharapova's book was published.

“A lot of people always assume that I feel a different way and it’s not true. If anything, I feel like we should encourage each other, and the success of one female should be the inspiration to another, and I have said that a thousand times. So for me, I always get inspired by other women that are doing well.”

When Williams and Sharapova clash under the lights at Flushing Meadows on Monday evening, neither woman will be at her illustrious peak. The 23-time Grand Slam champion continues to chase that elusive record, almost two years after giving birth to her daughter Olympia; the five-time major champion looks to make it past the fourth round of a hard-court Slam for the first time since 2015, having battled with injury as well as missing months of her career due to a ban for an anti-doping rule violation.

Nevertheless, it will be box office. It might not be a rivalry, exactly; but it could still be the latest instalment in a firework-laden feud.