Rory McIlroy wins a point against Maria Sharapova in MSG exhibition

A rowdy crowd of 18,079 saw the welcome return of tennis to Madison Square Garden at Monday night's BNP Paribas Showdown. Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki

Courtney Nguyen|

A rowdy crowd of 18,079 saw the welcome return of tennis to Madison Square Garden at Monday night's BNP Paribas Showdown. Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki served up a quality first set, which Sharapova won 6-3, before allowing the match to run the course of a typical tennis exhibition.

There was dancing, there was giggling, and oh yes, there was top-ranked golfer Rory McIlroy getting summoned down to the court by his main squeeze to play a point against Sharapova. Maria, thankfully, did not take his head off. But she did lose the point, thus reinforcing a reputation that has stuck with her for some time now: Maria Sharapova does not fare well against current World No. 1s.

Sharapova eventually won the exhibition match 6-3, 6-4. See a clip of the dancing, giggling, McIlroy-ing action in the video below.

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Published Mar 6, 2012 | Modified Mar 6, 2012

COURTNEY NGUYEN

Contributor, SI.com Nguyen is a freelance writer for SI.com, providing full coverage of professional tennis both on and off the court. Her content has become a must-read for fans and insiders to stay up-to-date with a sport that rarely rests. She has appeared on radio and TV talk shows all over the world and is one of the co-hosts of No Challenges Remaining, a weekly podcast available on iTunes. Nguyen graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 1999 and received a law degree from the University of California, Davis in 2002. She lives in the Bay Area.

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