Maria Sharapova overcame a fast-starting Agnieszka Radwanska 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 to reach the final of the Stanford Classic on Saturday.
Bidding for her first WTA Premier title of the year, Sharapova needed five match-points to subdue third-seed Radwanska, who engaged the hard-hitting Russian in one long rally after another.
Sharapova will face Belarussian Victoria Azarenka in the final, who celebrated her 21st birthday in style earlier by overwhelming top-seed Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-3.
PHOTO: AFP
Coming into the tournament, the fifth-seeded Sharapova had not beaten a top 25 player all season, but at Stanford has now taken down No. 23 Zheng Jie of China, No. 6 Elena Dementieva of Russia and No. 11 Radwanska.
The three-time Grand Slam champion was finally able to repel the Pole’s challenge when she boomed a service winner.
“This week has been great for me, going against different types of games, finding myself in different situations and coming out with wins, but there’s another one tomorrow and I have finish it out,” Sharapova told reporters.
PHOTO: AFP
The eighth-seed Azarenka registered her fourth victory over the Australian in as many attempts, tearing apart Stosur’s second serves and battering her from inside the baseline.
Azarenka broke world No. 5 Stosur five times in the match and was a broken only once herself.
“I was very good on the return, putting pressure on her,” said Azarenka, who reached her third final of the year. “I was very solid from the baseline and I was able to keep holding.”
Former world No. 6 Azarenka, who has battled with leg injuries for much of this year and saw her ranking dip to 18, said she was now healthy.
Stosur’s big serve consistently let her down and she was only able to land 55 percent of her first serves. She was also constantly pushed around the court in rallies and committed 33 unforced errors to only 15 from her opponent.
“She played quite well and punished me when I didn’t put a good serve in,” Stosur said. “It wasn’t my best day and I still had quite a few chances to get back in it, but when I had those I didn’t come up with the goods.”
Azarenka has three career titles and this year reached the finals in Dubai and Eastbourne, but she has not won in 16 months since crushing Serena Williams in last year’s Miami final.
Stosur is the first top five player Azarenka has beaten since she overcame Williams, who is now world No. 1.
“Sam is great player and has had amazing results this year,” Azarenka said. “I’m very happy that I could beat her when she’s in good form. It gives me confidence.”
■LA OPEN
Reuters, LOS ANGELES
Top-seed and British world No. 4 Andy Murray won a curiously topsy-turvy encounter with Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-0, 1-6, 6-4 on Saturday to reach the final of the LA Open.
Bidding for his first ATP title of the year, Murray recovered from a poor second set to wrap up victory in 1 hour, 38 minutes on the showcourt at the LA Tennis Center.
The Scot, playing his first tournament since Wimbledon, was to take on holder and second-seeded Sam Querrey in the final, the big-serving American having battled past Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 in front of his hometown crowd.
It will be the first time since 1999, when Pete Sampras beat fellow American Andre Agassi, that the top two seeds will contest the final.
Murray, oozing confidence with a sparkling array of shot-making and agile movement, broke Lopez in the second, fourth and sixth games to sweep through the opening set in only 24 minutes.
Inexplicably, Murray lost his way in the second set, running out of challenges early on and being broken by the Spaniard in the third, fifth and seventh games for Lopez to level the match.
The tide turned again as Murray broke his opponent in the first game of the final set before taking a 5-3 lead. The Spaniard did well to save two match-points on serve in the ninth before Murray served out the match in the 10th.
“Throughout the whole match until the end there, there wasn’t a point where I was playing well and he was also playing well,” Murray said courtside. “The third set was much closer, but neither of us has played much since Wimbledon so maybe that explains the inconsistency.”
Murray has not lost a set to Querrey in four previous meetings, the most recent at this year’s Wimbledon in the fourth round, but he said he expected a tough challenge against the local favorite in yesterday’s final.
“He won here last year and reached the final again this year so he obviously enjoys this court and will have a home crowd behind him,” the Scot said. “It will be very difficult.”
World No. 20 Querrey survived a match-point in the second set of his semi-final before squeezing through against sixth-seed Tipsarevic in a fluctuating encounter.
“That was a close one,” Querrey said after coming from 1-5 down in the second set tiebreak before breaking Tipsarevic twice in the final set on a sun-soaked afternoon. “I came up with good shots [at 1-5 down] and thankfully pulled it out. Today was the best I have played this week.”
“A slow start maybe but I will take it,” the 22-year-old said of his three successive three-set marathons. “I’ve been down and I’ve battled back. I’m a little tired, but I feel better now than I did yesterday so that’s a good sign.”
Tipsarevic, who lost to Querrey in three sets in their only other meeting in 2006, could only reflect on what might have been after his failed bid to reach a second ATP final this year.
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