FEDERER BEATS NADAL TO WIN SHANGHAI MASTERS
FEDERER BRUSHES ASIDE WORLD NUMBER ONE 64 ,63
SHANGHAI:Roger Federer brushed aside world number one Rafael Nadal 6-4 ,6-3 to win the Shanghai Masters on Sunday and register his fourth victory of the year over his Spanish rival.
The Swiss world number two beat Nadal in the finals of the Australian Open and Miami Masters and in the last 16 at Indian Wells earlier this year, and never looked like losing to his long-time rival in Shanghai, firing 10 aces as he cruised to victory. Federer, the only man who can still stop Nadal ending the year as number one, took an hour and 12 minutes to claim his sixth title of the year and his second Shanghai crown with a clinical performance. “I wasn’t here last year because of injuries, so it’s just so, so nice to be back in Shanghai,” Federer said. “It’s a wonderful moment for me to be back here playing against my good friend and rival, Rafa... We didn’t think maybe we were going to have the year we did. I definitely didn’t, so it’s just nice to share this court with you today and hopefully there’s more to come in the tournaments we’ve got left. It’s been a pleasure playing against you again today.”
Federer sprinted out of the blocks, breaking Nadal in the opening game and the Spaniard had little answer to the sheer variety of shots.
SHARAPOVA WINS
TIANJIN: Maria Sharapova won her first WTA title in more than two years at the Tianjin Open on Sunday, showing plenty of grit and determination as she came from behind in each set to beat Belarusian teenager Aryna Sabalenka 7-5, 7-6(8).
The former world number one, who returned to the tour in April following a 15-month doping ban, started the stronger, breaking Sabalenka in her opening service game, but struggled on serve and soon found herself trailing 4-1 in the first set.
The Russian managed to hold serve for the first time in the match at 4-2 and clung on grimly in the face of some hard hitting by her 19-year-old opponent before converting her fourth break point of the next game to get back on serve at 4-3.
Her nerves settled, Sharapova began to hit her stride, breaking Sabalenka again to go 6-5 up before closing out the set.
The Belarusian, playing her first WTA final, came back in the second set, opening up a 5-1 lead before serving to send the match into a decider, but Sharapova
FEDERER SPRINTED OUT OF THE BLOCKS, BREAKING NADAL IN THE OPENING GAME AND THE SPANIARD HAD LITTLE ANSWER TO THE SHEER VARIETY OF SHOTS
once again fought back to erase the deficit.
The 30-year-old broke Sabalenka twice in succession and held her nerve when facing a set point on serve at 5-4 to level things up, and broke the Belarusian to give herself the chance to serve out the match at 6-5.