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Maria Sharapova is the new champion of the Qatar Total
Open after a see-sawing final against Vera Zvonareva at
the Khalifa International Tennis Complex, which
eventually saw the World No. 5 claim a 6-1, 3-6, 6-0
victory.
Most had expected the three-time Grand Slam champion to
dominate completely against her unseeded country woman –
especially when Sharapova recovered from an opening set
service break to claim the first set 6-1 in just 23
minutes.
But
Zvonareva, who’d had to withdraw from an earlier 2008
final with injury, was determined to make a match of it.
With some uncharacteristic errors and occasional double
faults creeping into her opponent’s game, she pounced by
breaking serve in the second game of the second set.
Zvonareva steadily grew in confidence in her own service
games then pushed Sharapova to 0-40 in the eighth game.
A courageous Sharapova used trademark aggression to save
four set points, before surrendering the set 3-6.
With the benefit of 13 consecutive match wins for the
season, however, Sharapova was able to find her best
form when it truly mattered. After breaking Zvonareva in
the all-important opening service game she never looked
back, galloping to a 6-0 win to record her 18th
Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title. |
