August 21, 2011
The fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova is through to her second final at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati after she defeated No.2 seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia. She was completely off her game in the first set, she barely able to score points against the world’s second-ranked player. Maria started the match slowly as she quickly lost the set 6-2 to Zvonareva.
This is Maria's fourth final of 2011.
After the win, Maria said: I had a slow start, to say the least. I needed to get my energy back and when I did that I started to make some shots and was able to turn it around.
At the beginning of the second set Maria talked to her coach Thomas Hogstedt gave her a pep talk and became more aggressive and broke Zvonareva in the first game and took a 3-1 lead. Zvonareva took the next two games to level the set 3-3. Maria then reeled off three straight games to take the set 6-3 when Zvonareva double-faulted.
Another double-fault allowed Maria to break through for a 3-1 lead in the third set. Zvonareva got the set closer as Maria led 4-3 but Maria recovered quickly, coming to the net for a slam and giving herself three break points in the next game. Her strong forehand down the line put her up 5-3. Maria then got a new racket and served it out, ending the match with a solid forehand.
Maria Sharapova will be trying for her second tournament title this season. In Sunday's final to be played at 16.00 local time, Maria will play either No.9 seed Andrea Petkovic of Germany of No.13 seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia.
In the new WTA rankings to be released on Monday, Maria will provisionally move up to No.5 with 6066 points.
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