August 14, 2010
Maria grinded out a tough 3-set victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia to advance to her 5th final of 2010 in Cincinnati. Maria won 6-4 3-6 6-2 in 2 hours and 30 minutes.
It was a tricky match for Maria against a player who was on a 9-match winning streak but she came through to play her first final in her first appearance in Cincinnati.
In Sunday's final to be played at 15.00ET, Maria will face #4 seed Kim Clijsters of Belgium. They haven't played for over 3 and a half years and Clijsters leads the series 4-3. All 7 matches were played on hardcourts and Maria has won the last 3.
In the rankings, Maria moves up to No.12 with 3880 points. If Maria wins the final tomorrow, Maria will move to No.9.
Resources : http://www.mariasharapova.com/
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