Sharapova and Serena react to Bouchard tweets

It wasn't quite a war of words, but it sufficed.

Eugenie Bouchard and Maria Sharapova sounded off ahead of their first-round clash at the Mutua Madrid Open early this week. "I don't have anything to say," Sharapova said of her peer who had leveled heavy criticism at her prior to drawing her in a match. "I am way above that."

Bouchard would go on to beat Sharapova by a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 count, with 49 unforced errors sprayed off the Russian's racquet. What Sharapova hasn't proven to be "way above" appears to be liking a tweet about Bouchard after the fact of their tense battle:

Dare to compare:

"All those insults, all those digs, all those words," Chris Chase wrote for Fox Sports. "And then Sharapova got the final one, without saying a thing."

Not just media members but also WTA all-time greats have opined on the kerfuffle, with Martina Navratilova saying, in short, "Let's play ball":

Meanwhile, Serena Williams, she of the two-day baby shower, tacitly weighed in on the spat between her WTA colleagues by liking Bouchard's tweet about defeating Sharapova.

Thus even from many miles away, and months removed from returning, the soon-to-no-longer-be-No. 1 player on the tour makes her presence felt.

Bouchard had voiced that a number of WTA players, people she normally doesn't speak with, had verbalized support for her leading up to the Sharapova encounter.

Let's just say Simona Halep is not one of those players. Describing Bouchard as "different," she noted a bit happily that she did not wish Bouchard well ahead of her match with Sharapova.

Even so, Bouchard backed up her Sharapova takedown with a defeat of incoming world No. 1 Angelique Kerber, who has been on a downward spiral most all season. Every reason then for the 23-year-old Canadian to keep grinning. These are highly contentious and yet playful days for her:

To her credit, Sharapova was introspective after dropping a tight three-setter to her critic: "Of course I'm disappointed, and that's what's going to make me a better player, and that's what's going to win me more tournaments and more Grand Slams."

Is it Roland Garros time yet?

Follow Jon on Twitter @jonscott9.

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