Today’s Women’s News (10/07)

Written by: Staff on 7th October 2012

Today's Women's News (10/07)

epa03424576 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in action against Maria Sharapova of Russia in their final match at the China Open in Beijing, China, 07 October 2012. EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG |

Beijing

Singles – Final: (1) Victoria Azarenka def. (2) Maria Sharapova 6-3 6-1

One statistic will probably suffice to sum up this match: Maria Sharapova won only 29% of points on second serve. She faced 21 break points. Yes, she saved 15 of them, but still, it’s tough to win when you’re broken six times in two sets!

This breaks a long, long drought for Victoria Azarenka; she hadn’t won a title since Miami. It’s only her fifth title of the year — but they have been very good titles: Sydney, Australian Open, Doha, Indian Wells, and now Beijing. She of course remains #1 — and, with this, a very strong #1. Sharapova (who remains #2 but hasn’t won a title since Roland Garros) will have a shot at the year-end #1 at Istanbul. But she trails Azarenka by some 800 points in the Race. Istanbul is worth a maximum of 1500, and Sharapova hasn’t scheduled anything else. That’s a very, very big gap to make up.

Of course, things are likely to get interesting early next year, when Azarenka has that big winning streak to defend….