In today's Cincinnati final, there wasn't as much drama as when Jelena Jankovic played Francesca Schiavone in the quarterfinals, but there was enough. Between them, Maria Sharapova (64) and Jankovic (49) made 113 unforced errors, and it wasn't always easy to watch the proceedings. Twenty of those errors were double faults. There were sixteen breaks of serve. Both players complained about their opponents' delays of play. The spectators in the stands were probably exhausted; it made me tired to watch this final, which was--to a great extent--a series of missed opportunities strung together.
Someone had to win, however, and credit goes to Sharapova for showing enough grit to slog through and get the trophy. It took her over two hours and 49 minutes to win, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3, and the result shows that she's as mentally tough as ever. Both players had better runs in Cincinnati than the final reflected, however.
In the doubles final, the dream run of Natalie Grandin and Vladimira Uhlirova was ended by 3rd seeds Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova. King and Shvedova won 6-4, 3-6, 11-9, with Grandin and Uhlirova saving a match point.
4 comments:
It was dreadful, exhausting match... However if you look at the ranking, you will see that it was the first step for Sharapowa to become No 1 before the end of season!
Not sure this "exhausting" 3-hour error-fest was a particularly good advert for women's professional tennis. The spectacle not helped by two players whose game do not match up particularly well. In saying that Cincinnati was a good week for both women.
Sharapova seems to be back to her best and a genuine contender for the US Open. That is unless she chokes again.
Yes, it sometimes looks as though she has a good chance at the U.S. Open, but then--I don't know. I think she'll probably go pretty far, but she has these bad days now, when her serve is so off.
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