By James Waterson Photo Credit: Elsa/Getty Images
(August 21, 2011) It wasn't pretty, but in the end Maria Sharapova got the job done.
In a battle of former World No. 1s, Sharapova defeated 14th-ranked Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 to win the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, her second title of the year.
Sharapova started the match with an early break, and raced to a 4-2 lead before Jankovic broke twice to reach 5-4.
It was then that Sharapova's high risk game caught up with her, and a shower of errors as well as a double fault on set point granted Jankovic the first set.
The Serbian looked as if she would run away with the match as she seized a 2-0 lead, but Sharapova found the range on her explosive groundstrokes to level the match at 2-2. Sharapova then broke to lead 4-3, but Jankovic capitalized on her inconsistency to break back.
Although both players looked part shaky and part brilliant going into the tiebreaker, Sharapova found her best tennis of the match, as she overpowered her opponent to win the final five points of the set.
The momentum appeared to be in Sharapova's favor, but she dropped serve in the first game of the third set after she played another sloppy game. For the next five games, neither woman managed to hold serve despite having numerous opportunities to do so.
Finally, at 3-3, Sharapova held, and two consecutive double faults from Jankovic gave the Russian a 5-3 lead.
A strong cross court forehand from Sharapova forced Jankovic to hit wide on match point, ending the match after two hours and 49 minutes.
"It was a really tough one out there. It was so physical, and obviously it's something to expect when you're playing Jelena. You know, there is no secret she's a great mover and gets so many balls back," Sharapova said.
Sharapova was the more aggressive player in the match, as she had 38 winners to Jankovic's 13. The price for her aggression was a staggering 64 unforced errors, while Jankovic had a fairly high 49.
As mentioned above, the match wasn't friendly to the server, as each player claimed eight breaks of serve. Yet Sharapova performed slightly better, as she won 55 percent of her service points and half of her returning points.
"In the end, it could have gone either way. We kept breaking each other in the beginning. Felt like one of us played a few good points and than the other one and the levels were up and down throughout the match. So, yeah, I'm just fortunate that at the end of the day I'm the winner."
With today's win, she has now won six of seven matches against Jankovic, and on Monday she will be be ranked No. 5.