Top seed Maria Sharapova defended a title for the fifth time in her career and extended her winning streak on clay to 16 matches by defeating second seed Li Na in the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart with a straight-set victory which came after three three-setters that followed the first-round bye.
The new endorser of Porsche cars earned a double break in the first set to go up 4-1 and eventually win the set 6-4, while in the second set a stretch of four straight games helped her win it 6-3 when Li double faulted on match point.
Before the final, Sharapova defeated Lucie Safarova, Ana Ivanovic and Angelique Kerber, and soon she will be able to park the blue Porsche showcased in the corner of the clay court next to the white one she took home last year. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)
Pretty awesome performance from Sharapova today, especially as she was terrible through patches of her match with Kerber yesterday. Li didn’t play a bad match, just beaten by a better player on the day.
Always enjoy Stuttgart and its been another great week with super crowds. It is certainly an event I would love to attend one day 🙂
She was superb this time never give a single chance to the Chinese player Li Na in the game Sunday expecting good results from her on this upcoming Roland Garros