Who could believe that Maria Sharapova once hated clay? Today the Russian lifted yet another major claycourt trophy by beating Simona Halep in the final of the Mutua Madrid Open to become the only active WTA player who has won all the current European Premier clay tournaments. Moreover, her claycourt record this year is perfect 11-0, plus, she’s lost just three of her last 49 matches on the surface, since losing in the semifinals of the 2011 French Open.
In Sunday’s final against Halep, Sharapova quickly lost the first set 6-1, but in the second saved all three Halep’s break opportunities and converted both that she herself earned. In the decider Sharapova took a 4-1 lead, then allowed Halep to take one break back, but the surging Romanian couldn’t stop the Russian on her quest to the 31st title of her illustrious career. Final score: 1-6 6-2 6-3.
Fashion highlight: Masha raced to her Madrid title wearing the lilac version of the Nike Premier Maria Tank and grey Nike Premier Maria Skort with angular pleats.
We hope that you enjoyed Women’s Tennis Blog’s coverage of Madrid and the exclusive shots of our photographer Jimmie48 from Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Jimmie48 is now taking a short break before packing his gear for Nürnberg, so stay tuned!
Great job on Maria. I think she really deserves it and as for Serena’s injury, I think we should never judge someone’s achievement because of other’s condition and participation status. Serena might have a great head to head record against Sharapova but we should never forget that Sharapova also has a great record with players like Stosur and Radwanska.
Tennis is not all about Serena or even Sharapova only but it is about every other players as well. To win a tennis tournament, it takes more than just skill, power, and speed. It takes a great teamwork, strategy, mental game, stamina, consistency, health, and luck. Therefore, in my opinion, Sharapova became the winner of this tournament simply because she manage to get everything right and done whereas Serena did not.
So good luck on both players and as for Rome, may be the best and the readiest player wins!
its always good to see play her, but still need to prove against Sarena. I think she wins here because Sarena get injured and quit the tournament. Hence she has to prove herself against Sarena.