Sharapova finally lifts a title again
MARIA Sharapova won her first WTA title in more than two years at the Tianjin Open yesterday, 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 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.
But there was more drama to come. The Russian double faulted when facing a break point to gift Sabalenka the game and send the set into a tiebreak.
Sharapova, whose last title came at the Italian Open in May 2015, had three match points but Sabalenka survived them all before double faulting with the score at 8-8 to hand Sharapova another opportunity. This time, the Russian made no mistake, firing down a powerful serve to seal the victory.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer brushed aside world number one Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-3 to win the Shanghai Masters yesterday and register his fourth victory of the year over his Spanish rival.
The Swiss world number two never looked like losing to his longtime 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.
Federer sprinted out of the blocks, breaking Nadal in the opening game and the Spaniard had little answer to the sheer variety of shots coming across the net.
The Swiss refused to take his foot off the pedal in the second set, breaking Nadal to go 3-2 up and keeping his cool to wrap up victory.
He sealed the win on his opponent’s serve, winning the second of three match points to claim his 94th career title.
Federer, who won the tournament in 2014, has enjoyed himself on the fast courts of Shanghai this year, while Nadal will look back on a successful stint in Asia after winning last week’s China Open.
– Reuters