Rain and stronger Kim beat Sharapova in Cincinnati

A year ago, Kim Clijsters made an electric return to professional tennis in Cincinnati, winning three matches before losing in the quarterfinals, against Dinara Safina. This week she returned to the $2,000,000 tournament and went all the way to the title, beating fellow former No.1 Maria Sharapova in a nail-biting final, saving three match points to claim the trophy, 2-6 7-6 6-2.


In the first half of the match, we had a clear image: Maria controlling the game, hitting winners from every part of the court and a confused Kim, hitting a lot of unforced errors and double faults. But a rain delay may have halted Sharapova's winning momentum, as Clijsters was right back in the match upon resumption, battling back to push the set to a tie-break then battling back from 0-3 there, taking the match to a third set and cruising to victory.

Clijsters became the first player to win three titles this year, already winning Brisbane and Miami. She improved to 4-0 in finals since coming back last summer, taking the US Open last year. She is now 38-17 in career finals.

Sharapova was in her Tour-leading fifth final of the year and is now 2-3 in those, winning Memphis and Strasbourg but a runner-up in Birmingham (to Na Li), Stanford (to Vika Azarenka) and now here. She is now 22-11 in career finals.

"I had a wonderful week. It was my first week here and I had a wonderful welcome from all the fans and tournament," Sharapova said at the trophy ceremony. "Congratulations to Kim on a great match and great tournament, I look forward to playing her again soon. I'll definitely be back next year."