Sharapova, Jankovic Set to Meet in Cincy Final
By Matt Hursh Photo Credit: Elsa/Getty Images
A full night of tennis on Saturday night concluded with Maria Sharapova and Jelena Jankovic moving into the finals of the Western & Southern Open.
In the first match of the night, Sharapova clinched a spot in the finals in Cincinnati with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over newly minted World No. 2 Vera Zvonareva.
Sharapova began the match with a slew of double-faults in the first game, handing Zvonareva an early break. A mentally and physically steady Zvonareva used the early momentum, breaking her opponent in three of her four service games in a victorious first set.
After going down 1-3 after an early break in the second set, Zvonareva again took advantage of Sharapova’s errors and double-faults to level the set at 3-3. But just as the match looked to be turning back in Zvonareva’s favor, she hit a rough patch.
The World No. 2 lost seven of the next eight games during a stretch where she dropped the second set and dug herself a 1-4 hole in the third. Clearly lacking in confidence, Zvonareva looked flustered and rattled as the match slipped from her grasp.
The run was enough to give Sharapova the decisive advantage in the final set, as she closed it out with a service hold. Although it wasn’t a rock-solid performance, she found her way past a match-tough opponent in a back-and-forth contest that featured 13 breaks of serve in 26 games.
The win allows Maria to make her second consecutive final in Cincinnati. Last year, Sharapova fell to the eventual US Open champion Kim Clijsters in three sets in the finals.
In this year’s final, the Russian will play World No. 14 Jankovic, who wore down an ailing Andrea Petkovic to post a 7-6 (4), 6-1 victory.
Petkovic entered the match with a slightly torn meniscus in her right knee and played the match with the knee heavily taped. However, the injury did not seem to affect her movement or enthusiasm until the latter stages of the match, when the Serb began to roll.
Jankovic avenged her two losses that came at the hands of Petkovic this year, both of which came after the German came back from a set down to claim victory.
The former No. 1 played like the Jankovic of old, mixing in shot-making with steadiness, especially after overcoming a rough patch early in the match. Jankovic was the champion in Cincinnati in 2009.
The final, featuring two formerly top ranked players, is scheduled for 4pm ET on ESPN2.