Maria Sharapova outshines Samantha Stosur to clinch the title at Internazionali BNL d’Italia
Seventh seed Maria Sharapova from Russia dumped sixth seed Samantha Stosur from Australia in straight sets at 2011 Internazionali BNL d’Italia, a clay court tournament held in Rome, Italy. She registered a 6-2, 6-4 victory over
the 27-year-old Australian to win the biggest clay court title of her career.
A former world number one, Sharapova triumphed over the world number seven, Stosur in eighty-three minutes to complete her dream week in Rome. She earned her 23rd career singles title and her first in the running season.
The Russian maintained her winning record against Stosur and extended her lead in the head-to-head series to 8-0.
Currently ranked at 8, the Russian savaged into the opening set and reeled off first four games in a row. She then exchanged a break and held her serve in the last game to seal the set with an assuring 6-2 score line.
Despite clobbering three double faults and several unforced errors, Sharapova kept her momentum rolling into the final set. She broke the Australian’s serve in the very first game and took the lead. Although she lost her serve
in the proceeding game, the Russian broke Stosur’s serve in the fifth game and held her remaining serves superbly to clinch the set with a 6-4 win.
Sharapova hit 18 winners to Stosur’s 13 and capitalised on the 25 unforced errors the Australian committed. She produced a lower first serve share of 59 percent but registered an impressive 69 percent win on it. In addition to
this, the Russian converted five out of eight breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to seal the fabulous victory in straight sets.
The blooming Sharapova said to her adoring Italian fans during the on-court ceremony, "I'm so happy to be the champion. It means so much to me to add this title to the ones I already have. Rome is such a special place and I've
dreamed of holding up this trophy. There are a lot of tournaments coming up, and this is a great start to everything. I can't wait to be back next year."
After triumphing over this red clay tournament, she collected the winner’s check of $360,000 and 900 Sony Ericsson WTA Singles ranking points making her the new world number seven and Stosur now eighth in the world.
Tags: