Beats Ivanovic in three sets to win Porsche Grand Prix
Maria Sharapova won her third straight Porsche Grand Prix title on Sunday by coming from behind to defeat Ana Ivanovic 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Sharapova won her first tournament of the year and clinched the 30th title of her career. She is now undefeated in 13 consecutive matches on the indoor clay in Stuttgart.
Ivanovic wasted a 3-1 lead in the second set as Sharapova raised her game to stay in the high-quality match and finally prevail in a showdown between two former top-ranked players and French Open champions. Ivanovic was seeking her third title of the year.
“I just tried to hang in there,” Sharapova said. Ivanovic got off to a flying a start and won the first five games of the match before Sharapova started fighting back.
Ivanovic wasted a set point and could not serve out the set at love. She gifted Sharapova another game with a double-fault but finally pulled together to win the first set. Sharapova had trouble reading Ivanovic’s varied game and change of pace. But she held on as Ivanovic began to lose her focus.
Sharapova returned late last year after missing four months following shoulder surgery. “It was a very tough year for me,” she said. Stuttgart is the only tournament Sharapova has won three times.
Sania-Cara second-best
Sania Mirza will have to wait for her first title of the 2014 season, with partner Cara Black, as she lost the summit clash of the women’s doubles final on Sunday.
Playing their second final of the season, the second-seeded Indo-Zimbabwean pair lost 2-6 3-6 to top seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci in one hour and 10 minutes in the final of the $710,000 clay court WTA premier event.
Sania had reached the Indian Wells final last month but there also she had ended runners-up with Cara. Nevertheless, it was good start for Sania and Cara in the clay court season ahead of the French Open, the Red Clay Grand Slam, starting next month in Paris.
Nishikori wins Barcelona Open
Barcelona: Kei Nishikori of Japan beat Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo 6-2, 6-2 to win the Barcelona Open on Sunday for his first career title on clay.
It was the fourth-seeded Nishikori’s fifth career title on all surfaces and his second of the year.
Giraldo started well with an early break in his favor but an argument with the chair regarding a line call seemed to rattle the unseeded player.
Giraldo then failed to reach Nishikori’s drop shot before hitting a costly double fault to cede back his serve.
Nishikori went on to win eight straight games to claim the first set and take control of the match.
This is the first time a non-Spaniard has won the tournament at the Real Club de Tenis since 1996.