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DOHA: Maria Sharapova maintained her unbeaten record
in 2008 by claiming her second title of the year with a win over
fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva at the Qatar Open on Sunday.
The Australian Open champion won
6-1, 2-6, 6-0 against her unseeded but impressive opponent,
producing a ferocious final set performance which once again
underlined her as the player to beat right now.
She had a decent test from the
world number 27, who is coming back well herself from wrist and
ankle injuries, and at times showed some of the rhythm, deception
and fluency which once carried her into the world’s top ten.
Sharapova’s improvement since
last year has come not only from overcoming her shoulder problems
but careful attention to injury-avoiding detail, as the manner in
which she worked her way carefully into this match suggested.
“I made a slow start and then
played really well to win the first set.”
“But she’s the type of
opponent who’s going to play her best tennis when she’s behind
when she has nothing to lose. That happened to me with her
before.”
Sharapova nevertheless started as
though her old ailment, the right shoulder, was giving her trouble
again. She served at a modest pace, made three unforced errors in
the first five rallies and delivered a double fault.
She saved four set points
fruitlessly, but broke serve straight away at the start of the third
set. This was an important blow psychologically, pummeling a loopy
pace-change forehand from Zvonareva back with a flat backhand
cross-court to complete the break, and setting up a new momentum.
It was a triumphant end and
suggested that Sharapova will go to Dubai next week, when world
number one Justine Henin rejoins the tour, ready for just about
anything.
--AFP
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