Sharapova Wins Acura Classic
Russia’s Maria Sharapova won the Acura Classic trophy in San Diego on Sunday, having defeated top seed Kim Clijsters 7-5 7-5.
Sharapova, for whom Acura Classic was the first tournament after Wimbledon, lost no set en route to the victory. Regardless, only a few would have staked on her before the Sunday match, as she was facing world No. 2 and Acura Classic top seed Kim Clijsters of Belgium.
Well-aware how strong Clijsters’ defense is and of her ability to take the most sophisticated balls, Sharapova tried to be attentive and cautious to the maximum extent.
In the first set, the Russian broke at 5-3 and was serving for a set, but lost the following play off. Clijsters broke in return and leveled the score. Nevertheless, Sharapova managed to prevent the tie break and take the set 5-7.
Sharapova won the second set with no tie break as well, though the rivals were holding own serve for 11 games in a row. But Maria broke in the end, while Clijsters made a raft of errors and yielded the trophy. The match lasted for an hour and 48 minutes.
In San Diego, Sharapova won her 12th career title and the 2nd this season. In addition to $196,000, she got the status of one of the U.S. Open favorite. But of vital importance is that Maria overwhelmed the principal competitor and improved the personal score in the meetings with tennis top seeds.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 08, 2006
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