The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Nadal defeats del Potro to win Indian Wells title
- Sharapova routs Wozniacki for Indian Wells title
- Lewis takes World No. 1 spot with Founders Cup win
| Nadal defeats del Potro to win Indian Wells title Posted: 17 Mar 2013 05:26 PM PDT INDIAN WELLS (California): Rafael Nadal defeated Juan Martin del Potro 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday to win his third Indian Wells ATP Masters title and cement his return from a seven-month injury layoff. The 11-time Grand Slam champion from Spain claimed his first hard court title since 2010. He hadn't played a hard court tournament since pulling out of the Miami Masters last March with tendinitis in his left knee - the same sort of knee trouble that would sideline him from late June until February. He came back last month to post a runner-up finish in Vina del Mar, followed by victories at Sao Paulo and Acapulco. But none of those modest clay court tournaments posed the challenge he faced at Indian Wells, where the field featured 49 of the top 50 players in the world. Seeded fifth, his route to the final included a quarter-final clash with defending champion Roger Federer. In the final, Nadal halted the giant-killing run of seventh-seeded Argentinian del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion who defeated world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and world No. 3 Andy Murray en route to the final. - AFP |
| Sharapova routs Wozniacki for Indian Wells title Posted: 17 Mar 2013 05:08 PM PDT INDIAN WELLS (California): Maria Sharapova peaked at just the right time on Sunday to beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-2 and win her second Indian Wells WTA title in emphatic style. The 25-year-old Russian, already projected to supplant Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka at No. 2 in world rankings by reaching her first final of the season, broke Wozniacki twice in each set en route to the victory in one hour and 21 minutes. The win in a match between former champions gave her a second title to go with the Indian Wells crown she claimed in 2006. It was Sharapova's first title since her 2012 French Open triumph gave her a career Grand Slam, and stretched her streak of years with at least one title to 11. "This is what I do all the work for is these moments," a beaming Sharapova said. "You feel like everything has paid off." Sharapova put her foot on the gas early with a break in the first game and didn't let up, firing winners off both wings and peppering Wozniacki with four aces. "It's the final. You have to be on from the first point," she said. "I didn't feel like I played my best tennis in the beginning of the tournament, but sometimes it's the way it works. "It's always better to work yourself through the tournament and get better as it ends than sometimes start extremely well and don't feel like you're gaining momentum as the tournament goes on." She broke Wozniacki again in the seventh game, her only hiccup coming as she served for the set at 5-2 and made two errors to give Wozniacki a double break point. Sharapova saved both with backhand winners, then sealed the set with an ace and a forehand winner. The Russian opened the second set with another break, Wozniacki a bit unlucky with a double fault on break point as her second serve bounced off the net cord. Wozniacki worked hard to extend the rallies, but she couldn't penetrate Sharapova's serve, her consultation with her coach in each set apparently giving her few new clues on how to do so. "She was putting pressure on me from the start," Wozniacki said. "She was serving very well. I felt like everything that she wanted to do today was going in. She was making very few errors, and if she did, then it was really at the times where it didn't really matter. "I have to say she just played too well today." Sharapova broke her again for a 5-2 lead, and served it out with a love game punctuated by a service winner on match point. "I think it was a tough match, a tough battle, and there were a lot of games that went to deuce and a lot of long games," Sharapova said. "I always felt like I was always a foot ahead, especially with the breaks. I was able to serve well today, and that helped me." Wozniacki, a former world No. 1 who owns 20 WTA titles - including an Indian Wells win in 2011 - has still never beaten a top-three player in a final. She remained in search of her first title of 2013, but said her performance was encouraging. "I have to be happy with the finals here," she said. "It's a very big tournament. I have been having to play aggressive, play defense, everything what I had. And I'm pleased with that." - AFP |
| Lewis takes World No. 1 spot with Founders Cup win Posted: 17 Mar 2013 05:01 PM PDT PHOENIX (Arizona): Stacy Lewis claimed the World No. 1 women's golf ranking by firing a final-round eight-under par 64 to beat Japan's Ai Miyazato by three strokes on Sunday at the US$1.5mil LPGA Founders Cup. The 28-year-old American knocked 2012 Founders Cup champion Yani Tseng of Taiwan from atop the rankings after a stay of 109 weeks with the victory and Tseng finishing in a share of 59th place, 19 strokes off the pace. Lewis became only the second American woman golfer to claim the top spot, after Cristie Kerr in 2010, by making birdies on three of the last four holes while Miyazato, who led most of the way, took a double bogey at the 16th. "It's unbelievable," Lewis said. "We were battling back and forth, and I didn't expect her to do that there. I was just trying to make birdies there at the end." World No. 1 "has a pretty good ring to it," Lewis said just one day after taking a two-stroke penalty after her round when her caddie was penalized for testing a bunker. "It was just fitting with everything that happened yesterday that I had my back against the wall again today," Lewis said. Lewis, who began the day four off Miyazato's pace after the penalty, fired the best round of the day by two shots to finish on 23-under par 265. Miyazato, seeking a 10th career LPGA title, settling for second on 268 after a closing 71 at Wildfire Golf Club, where Miyazato set a course record with a 63 in the opening round. American Angela Stanford was third on 271 with South Korean Jee Young Lee, Italy's Giulia Sergas and Americans Jessica Korda and Lizette Salas sharing fourth another stroke off the pace. Lewis birdied the par-5 second and fifth holes, the par-4 seventh and ninth as well as the par-5 11th before making her only bogey at the par-4 12th. She responded with a birdie at the 13th, then ran off three birdies in a row starting at the par-5 15th and ending with a long putt at the par-3 17th to seize a three-stroke lead after the turning point on the par-4 16th. Miyazato owned a one-stroke lead as she made her approach at 16 with a pitching wedge but the ball rolled off the green and down a hill into the desert and into an unplayable lie. She blasted the ball up the hill to the far side of an elevated green with her fourth shot and two-putted from there, but the damage was done and Lewis birdied the hole to stretch her advantage to two strokes with two to play. - AFP |
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