Sharapova Claims First Clay-Court Title

By Tennis Week

Continuing a season of firsts, Maria Sharapova was the last woman standing in Amelia Island.

Sharapova won her first Australian Open title in January, made her first Fed Cup appearance for Russia in February and today captured the first clay-court championship of her career with a 7-6(7), 6-3 victory over a determined Dominika Cibulkova in the Bausch & Lomb Championships final.

"I took it one step at a time," said Sharapova who edged 15th-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues, 7-6(3), 5-7, 7-6(1) in the third round before outlasting 10th-seeded Alona Bondarenko, 6-7(9), 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. "I had a few tough ones earlier in the week, but my body held up throughout the tournament. It's the first clay-court title I've won so it feels pretty cool."

The 34th-ranked Cibulkova stopped second-seeded Anna Chakvetadze in the third round before conquering former World No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo in the final. Playing her first career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour final, the 18-year-old Slovak used her fast feet, compact strokes and ability to take the ball early to fight back from a 1-3 deficit today.

Sharapova smacked a forehand return winner down the line to earn break point and followed with a backhand swing volley winner to break for 5-4.

Serving for the first set, Sharapova found herself on the defensive against the teenager, who smacked her a forehand swing volley while moving into the court, forcing a stretched-out Sharapova to hit a left-handed forehand reply. Cibulkova was waiting and cracked a backhand winner down the line to break back for 5-5.

In the tiebreaker, Sharapova slid a slice ace out wide to earn her first set point at 6-5, but Cibulkova surprised Sharapova with a stinging serve to save the set point.

Sprinting forward in pursuit of the dipping drop shot, Sharapova slid across the Har-Tru court and nudged a forehand that trickled over the tape. Anticipating the get, Cibulkova moved forward and was waiting but with a wide expanse of open court in front of her, she tapped a forehand wide to hand Sharapova a second set point.

She dumped a double fault into the net but two points later Sharapova seized the set when Cibulkova lined a tight forehand return into the net.

Sharapova plans to play the Family Circle Cup in Charleston next week followed by at least one European clay-court tournament — possibly Rome — before taking a shot at the only Grand Slam title missing from her impressive resume: Roland Garros. Sharapova is bidding to join Serena Williams as the only active player to capture all four majors in a career.

Source: http://www.tennisweek.com/news/fullstory.sps?inewsid=548790