In a bizarre battle of former world champions the odds fluctuated like the weather before Maria Sharapova beat Jelena Jankovic 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 in two hours and 49 minutes of excruciating, edgy tennis to win the Cincinnati Open.
Sharapova, who had won only one of her previous six finals (against Sam Stosur in Rome), never the less came into this decider with a respectable 38-10 record for the year and expectations of rising to No4 in the world. She could hardly have imagined she was about to engage in a match littered with 16 breaks of serve, eight apiece. The Russian hit 11 double faults, the Serb seven, two of those consecutively in her last service game.
The enmity between these one-time friends also lent tension to a match of ebbing drama.After starting brightly to lead 4-1 in the first set Sharapova was in despair as her service game collapsed in a mist of cursing and she struggled to keep the cool ritual of composure between points that is the most mannered in the game.
Jankovic, herself a fragile presence on tour and still searching for her best tennis, was buoyant after taking the first set 6-4 and still in control at 2-0 up in the second. The Serb, so close to winning her first title since Indian Wells last year, double-faulted at the end of a long seventh game to drop serve and the Russian's mood lifted – only to be thrown into turmoil when Jankovic immediately broke back.
Jankovic, who had a walkover after a tough three-setter against Francesca Schiavone on Friday night, again struggled on her serve but held for a 5-4 lead. Sharapova, serving to stay in the match, held to love, while Jankovic had to negotiate deuce to pull ahead – and duly lost the inevitable tie-break.
Consistently inconsistent, Jankovic broke again at the start of the third, as did Sharapova, and so it went until the Russian held in the seventh game before closing it out.
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