Singles – Final: (5) Agnieszka Radwanska def. (2) Maria Sharapova 7-5 6-4
It was a hot afternoon, but Agnieszka Radwanska — who, after all, is smaller than Maria Sharapova and is better at shedding heat — kept her cool. Sharapova seemed much more rattled, wasting two challenges in just one game and finally cracking in the first set. The key break in the second set also came toward the end. Radwanska was never broken.
The result doesn’t affect the rankings; Sharapova will remain #2 and Radwanska #4. But Radwanska’s results in the last year have been amazing — five titles (San Diego, Pan Pacific, Beijing, Dubai, and now Miami). Those are all Premier events; two of them are Premier Mandatories. She is 61-18 in the last year (77.2%). She has 11 wins over Top Ten players. She may be a mere #4, but frankly, it looks as if she will be going higher.
©”DAILY TENNIS NEWS WIRE”
—————————————————-
SONY ERICSSON OPEN
Miami, FL, USA
March 20-31, 2012
$4,828,050/Premier
Hard/Outdoors
Results – Saturday, March 31, 2012
Singles – Final
(5) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. (2) Maria Sharapova (RUS) 75 64
Order Of Play – Sunday, April 1, 2012
Stadium (from 13.00hrs)
1. ATP: Djokovic vs. Murray
2. Doubles Final: Kirilenko/Petrova vs. Errani/Vinci
Final Facts
– Radwanska does not lose a set all fortnight en route to her ninth WTA title (two of them coming this year and five since last August) and is now 9-2 in WTA finals; it is her sixth Premier-level title (after Eastbourne in 2008, Carlsbad, Tokyo and Beijing in 2011 and Dubai this year).
– Radwanska improves to 26-4 on the year, with all four losses coming to Victoria Azarenka, whom she is tied with for most match wins in 2012.
– Radwanska improves to 2-7 all-time against Sharapova and snaps a six-match losing streak to the Russian.
– Radwanska, the first Polish champion in Miami history, passes the $8 million career prize money mark with her result here.
– Sharapova falls to 24-16 in finals, including 0-4 in Miami finals, having also been Sony Ericsson Open runner-up to Kim Clijsters in 2005, Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2006 and Victoria Azarenka in 2011.
– Sharapova is now 18-4 on the year, having reached at least the quarterfinals in all four events she has played.
Final Quotes
Agnieszka Radwanska: “I lost against her the last few times, but today was a very tight match too, and I think I was better for just a couple of points each set. Maria is a really good player – a top player, second in the world right now. So I had pretty much nothing to lose. I was focusing on my serve, and I’m very happy I didn’t lose my serve – I think it was actually the biggest key in this match.
“It’s a great feeling to beat these kinds of players, especially in a final.”
Maria Sharapova: “You do a really good job to get there, but it’s the toughest round. These last two tournaments are always tough because they’re so close together, and you’re playing six matches in an event – but I’m happy I got to play all six. I would have loved to be the winner, but that’s just the way it goes.”
Topics: Agnieszka Radwanska, aktualności tenis kobiet, aktualności tenis Radwańska, Maria Sharapova, Polish tennis news, Russian tennis news., Sony Ericsson Open 2012, женский теннис новости, Россия новости тенниса