Maria Sharapova proved her comeback into the sport at the Tianjin Open. The 30-year-old who overcame a 16 month suspension from tennis and five months of climbing back in the ranks took her first title since Jan. 2015 beating Aryna Sabalenka 7-5, 7-6(8) on Centre Court at the Tianjin Tuanbo International Tennis Centre.
This was the first and important meeting between two players who have had matches without dropping a set. While it was assured that one of them would lose out on the day, a title was on the line which the Belorussian sought her first WTA title while her opponent vied for her first since coming back to the sport. The win for Sharapova would be a huge boost to not only her ranking but her status in the tennis world as a former world number one. The work put in so far has been powerful with the first serve and hoped to school her young opponent right from the start.
She got the early break on Sabalenka but the Belorussian answered back with a break of her own and then some. The teen took off with full control of her own serve and still managed to break Sharapova again. The Russian clearly found herself in trouble hoping to make something of her third time on serve and get back into it. She did so with a big response to the Belorussian, following it up with a break that got her back within a game of Sabalenka.
The 30-year-old recovered the deficit fully getting to a four all tie in the set with the next becoming the key to taking back control at the right point. Sabalenka was first to act on serve getting the job done going for broke against Sharapova. She forced the former number one to deuce but her big hits on the ball got out of control for a time leading to the win ending in Sharapova’s favor.
With it still tied through ten and not many more games left to play, the fight for the 11th was critical. Both Sharapova and Sabalenka got into an aggressive style of attacking one another that only led to another draw on deuce. Just when it looked to go on without an end in sight, Sharapova used experience to get out of the jam and win it for the 6-5 lead. The break of Sabalenka allowed the Russian to dictate her serve for the set but it didn’t come without the competitive spirt of her opponent.
She forced deuce on the returns but when it came to getting the AD point from Sharapova, the teen couldn’t keep her forehand together. Each opportunity on the break fell either wide or long of the baseline giving Sharapova chances to win set point. On the third attempt, the 30-year-old got it done with another forehand error from Sabalenka ending 58 minutes.
When the second got underway, Sabalenka wasted no time being the frontrunner while having her act together on serve. It was through the first three games that she took Sharapova by Storm earning the break with two holds. The Russian brought the winning streak to an end with an important serve to get into the set. It was the last she saw as the Belorussian teen took another to pressing the need for a third set. Sharapova avoided the end for a game, holding serve to close the gap.
She managed to save more than that tying the set once more at four all that led to another fight to the finish. The need to stave off a third set against Sabalenka was essential due to her forceful play on court. She and Sharapova went to the brink of the second set where a tiebreaker had to come into play. This was also another crucial nail biter for the two as the margin of victory ended in minimal fashion. When it was all said and done, the Russian, who spent the last six months fighting her way back into contention earned match point at 9-8 to win after two hours and five minutes proving her worth.
It was the first time in the tournament that Sharapova failed to keep a steady first serve in control as the 19 year old had a lot of fight that at times caught the superstar off guard. She returned 22 of 60, but made up for it with 61 percent on the serve. Despite only getting 280 points, Sharapova would no doubt move higher up the ranks, estimated to sit at 58th in the world by Monday. She is expected to play the season out in Moscow where she will ultimately have the home advantage at the Kremlin Cup next week.
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