May 15, 2011
Samantha Stosur and Maria Sharapova were not the most likely finalists in Rome when the tournament began. However they will meet on Sunday in the final from the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
Maria Sharapova, perhaps lucky to have gotten past Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals in Rome, is now in position to take down the 23rd title of her already illustrious career. Sharapova will face French Open finalist Samantha Stosur in the championship match of the Premier Mandatory event in Italy's capital on Sunday with the coveted title on the line.
Sharapova produced one of her best performances of the season in the semifinals to eliminate top ranked Caroline Wozniacki 7-6, 6-3. The 6'2" Russian star was at her attacking best and she struck 36 winners en route to knocking Wozniacki out.
Stosur, in her semifinal match, initially met some resistance from Na Li but picked up her game to earn a 7-6, 6-0 win. The sixth seed is now about to compete in her first final since last year’s French Open, and her recent displays suggest that we might see her challenge for the Roland Garros title again this season.
Sharapova goes into this match with a 7-0 head to head record against Stosur, although this will be the first meeting between the pairing on clay. Stosur has only ever taken two sets from Sharapova, but the switch to a clay court may well work to Stosur’s advantage as she has played the best tennis of her career on that surface.
Another noteworthy trend is that Stosur, at the age of 27, has just two titles in her career while Sharapova, at the age of 24, has 22. Sharapova, a former world number one, has closed out tournaments of this magnitude and greater before while Stosur rarely crosses the finish line in first place.
Today's match is scheduled to start not before 2pm CET with Rafael Nadal vs Novak Djokovic taking place at 4:15pm.
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