Sharapova outclasses Wozniacki in semi
World number one Nadal reaches men’s final in Rome.
ROME:
Former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova will play Australia’s Samantha Stosur in the Rome Masters final after she defeated world number one Caroline Wozniacki 7-5, 6-3 in a match littered with service breaks.
Sharapova displayed a performance of crisp power hitting to eventually prove too much for her Danish opponent. She broke Wozniacki early on but when she led 4-3 there were four breaks in a row until the Russian finally held serve to take the set 7-5.
The service struggles continued at the start of the second set as four of the first five games went against the server. That saw Wozniacki open up a 3-1 lead but Sharapova did not let her consolidate and reeled off the final five games.
Earlier, Stosur stormed into the final with a straight-sets 7-6, 6-0 victory over China’s Li Na. It was the 27-year-old’s third straight-sets win out of three played against a player ranked one place above her in the world.
Stosur also reached her first final since the 2010 French Open almost a year ago.
Nadal overwhelms Gasquet
A dominant Rafael Nadal broke Richard Gasquet’s resolve and eased into the men’s final with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over the 16th-seed.
The victory took the 24-year-old’s record at this tournament to 31 wins and just one loss as he aims for a sixth title in seven years in this event. Having suffered from a fever earlier in the week, Nadal showed no ill-effects as he secured a spot for himself in the final.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 15th, 2011.
Former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova will play Australia’s Samantha Stosur in the Rome Masters final after she defeated world number one Caroline Wozniacki 7-5, 6-3 in a match littered with service breaks.
Sharapova displayed a performance of crisp power hitting to eventually prove too much for her Danish opponent. She broke Wozniacki early on but when she led 4-3 there were four breaks in a row until the Russian finally held serve to take the set 7-5.
The service struggles continued at the start of the second set as four of the first five games went against the server. That saw Wozniacki open up a 3-1 lead but Sharapova did not let her consolidate and reeled off the final five games.
Earlier, Stosur stormed into the final with a straight-sets 7-6, 6-0 victory over China’s Li Na. It was the 27-year-old’s third straight-sets win out of three played against a player ranked one place above her in the world.
Stosur also reached her first final since the 2010 French Open almost a year ago.
Nadal overwhelms Gasquet
A dominant Rafael Nadal broke Richard Gasquet’s resolve and eased into the men’s final with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over the 16th-seed.
The victory took the 24-year-old’s record at this tournament to 31 wins and just one loss as he aims for a sixth title in seven years in this event. Having suffered from a fever earlier in the week, Nadal showed no ill-effects as he secured a spot for himself in the final.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 15th, 2011.