Clijsters defeats Sharapova to win Cincinnati Open
Belgium’s Kim Clijsters made a stunning come back to edge out Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova in the final of the Cincinnati Tennis Open Championship.
The Belgian star was helped by a 74-minute stoppage for rain that helped her regain her composure after getting a sound beating in the opening set of the match on her way to a 2-6, 7-6 and 6-2 win.
After the break she brought her A-game to the fore, challenging Sharapova through and through making life extremely tough for the Russian former world number one.
Despite her resolute comeback, the title was Sharapova’s for the taking yet the Russian star stumbled inexplicably at a crucial time during the match to let go off a golden opportunity of winning the championship.
The Florida based star squandered as many as three championship points with the score at 5-3 in the second set.
At this juncture the match was interrupted by rain, and for Clijsters it was the heavens truly opened. The Belgian made sure that the 74-minute break worked for her, giving her a grip on the match.
Clijsters was much more focused after the break gearing up for the last two sets of the match, on her way to a famous win.
The 27-year-old held her nerve in the second set as Sharapova produced some flashes of brilliance yet she was promptly broken, as the set headed into a tie break.
As was the case with the early part of the set the Russian blew away another golden opportunity allowing Clijsters to claw her way back from a 3-0 deficit, before winning the tiebreak 7-4.
The final set was all Clijsters, as Sharapova double-faulted giving a break in the third game of the final set. The Russian was anything but her best in the last stage of the match taking a medical time-out to undergo treatment for her foot injury.
In the final set the Belgian, followed the path of Sharapova as it seemed for a moment that none of the two players were willing to take the title.
Clijsters was full of nerves at the end as she failed to convert any of her first three title points yet prevailed eventually to bring to an end a truly absorbing yet scratchy encounter.
After the match Clijsters claimed that she owed her success to her brilliant performance at the start of the tournament.
“It's always nice to win the tournament, but I think what I was gradually able to do really well was to step my game up when I had to", she explained.
She added that she was much stronger mentally now than during the earlier part of her career, and this was the reason for her success lately.
"My toughest match before this one was, you know, the one against Pinetta where I had two close sets but had to I, you know, had to fight for it. I think that's something that made me, even today, helped me out a little bit. It's nice to have those kind of tougher matches, before you have to play a big player like Maria".
The Belgian won a handsome purse of $350,000 for her win which was the 38th WTA win of her illustrious career.
The Cincinnati win gave Clijsters her fourth victory since her return from a two-year maternity break.
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