Sharma topples Jabeur to win first WTA title in Charleston
MIAMI: Australian Astra Sharma, ranked 165th in the world, rallied to beat 27th-ranked Ons Jabeur 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 on Sunday to win her first WTA title at Charleston, South Carolina.
Sharma, who beat a top-30 player for the first time in three atempts, broke Tunisian top seed Jabeur three times in the third set to give herself a chance to serve out the match, which she did in style with a love game.
The Singapore-born Australian, who reached the 2019 Australian Open mixed doubles final with compatriot John-patrick Smith, became the sixth first-time singles winner on the WTA tour this year.
Sharma, who has been ranked as high as 85th in the world, is projected to rise to 120th on the strength of the victory in her second career singles final.
“To come out of this with a win, it’s really unexpected, it’s amazing for me, I have no words,” Sharma told the press ater her win. “It hasn’t really sunk in that I won, I’m so happy.”
“There’s so many weeks where you come so close, and it’s rare to finally end a week on a win,” Sharma said. “Two years ago in Bogota, when I was so close, the nerves got the beter of me.
“This time, I was a lot more calm and just held my nerve really well. Especially with Ons playing such high-level tennis in the first, I thought I did well to just reset in the second and just keep making her come up with the same shots.”
“I thought Ons played an amazing first set,” Sharma said. “I didn’t know, really, what to do. She was wrong-footing me, she was drop-shoting me, she was making me cover a lot of court, and I really couldn’t read what she was doing.
“I think in the second set, I managed to get a litle sniff here and there. And by the third set, it was hot, humid, and I think I was a litle bit more energetic than her and my intensity was still the same, so I think that was what eventually gave me the lead.”
Jabeur, who has climbed to a career-high ranking since becoming the first Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final at the 2020 Australian Open, used her wide array of weapons to dominate the first set, mixing deep ground strokes with lobs and angled passing shots to build a 5-1 lead and pocketing the set without facing a break point.
But Sharma gained the first break of the second set for a 3-1 lead. Jabeur immediately broke back and they went with serve to the 12th game in which Jabeur led 40-15 before the Aussie four straight points to take the set - sealing it when she raced forward to reach a drop shot and scooped the ball back past Jabeur.