Victoria Azarenka beat Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-1 on Sunday to win the Bank of the West Classic, her first title of the season.
Azarenka, who earned US$107,000 for her win, beat Sharapova for the first time in three years and the first time on hard court. They have split four career meetings.
“This is one of the best, definitely,” the young Belarusian said. “I’m really excited to compete with so many great players. It’s exciting to go out and show my spirit.”
After the final point, Azarenka dropped her racket, covered her eyes and walked slowly to the net to shake hands with Sharapova. She went over to hug her coach and returned to the court to acknowledge the crowd.
It was a subdued reaction, although she smiled all the way through the awards ceremony and her press conference.
“I try to dig myself into the court,” she said. “I’m changing my game so as not to have the same patterns all the time. The most important thing is to be thinking on the court.”
Azarenka’s 21st birthday was on Saturday and she wanted to delay any celebration until after the tournament. She’s not holding back now.
“I want to see my friends and family if I have time,” said Azarenka, who is skipping the San Diego tournament that began yesterday because of an injury. “I want a cake. I want some ice cream, something beside cinnamon.”
“I tried to start aggressive right away and not let her come in,” Azarenka said of Sharapova. “When she gets on a roll it’s hard to keep up. I had to be on top of her every moment and not give her the chance to come back.”
She won 6 of 11 break-points and was again effective with her return game, winning 57 percent of her total returns, including 12 of 15 on second returns.
Azarenka, who won her fourth career title, was to rise to No. 12 in the world when the rankings were released yesterday. Sharapova, who was looking to become the first woman with three titles this year, rises to No. 13.
Sharapova is taking the week off and returns to make her debut in Cincinnati, Ohio.
■Croatian Open
AP, UMAG, Croatia
Former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Potito Starace of Italy 6-4, 6-4 to win the Croatia Open on Sunday for his third title this year and 15th overall.
The fourth-seeded Spaniard broke once in each set to improve to 6-1 over Starace. Ferrero never faced a break-point in the match.
Ferrero, last year’s finalist, broke in the third game and lost only seven points on serve in the first set. He broke again in the ninth game of the second set.
Ferrero has also won this year in the Brazil Open at Costa do Sauipe in February and the Copa Telmex in Buenos Aires a week later.
“It was the best season for me after quite a time,” Ferrero said after his fourth final this year. “It boosts my confidence.”
Starace was playing his first final in three years and looking for his first ATP title.
■Istanbul CUP
AP, ISTANBUL
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has beaten Elena Vesnina 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 in the Istanbul Cup final to claim her second WTA singles title at the Turkish capital.
Pavlyuchenkova’s serve was broken seven times on Sunday, while Vesnina lost serve eight times. Both players survived tough three-set matches in Saturday’s semi-finals.
Third-seeded Pavlyuchenkova trailed 3-0 in the second set and 3-1 in the third before recovering against Vesnina in a final that was dominated by Russians.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
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