Maria Sharapova bounced back from a poor
start to defeat Simona Halep 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 and
win the Madrid Open title.
Sharapova, who lost to Serena Williams in last
year's final, crumbled in the opening set when
she held her serve just once.
But Halep's serve dipped in the second set, and
Sharapova started hitting pinpoint ground
strokes that kept the Romanian running. The
ninth-ranked Russian converted both her break
points in the set to even the match.
Sharapova then pulled away in the deciding set
with an early break to follow up her triumph in
Stuttgart with a maiden title in Madrid.
Since the 2011 French Open, Sharapova has a
47-3 record on clay, with all three defeats
coming to Williams.
"I don't know how I pulled it off,'' Sharapova
said after winning her 32nd career title. "I came
close last year, and I didn't have a great
first set today, but I knew it wasn't over until
the last point was played.''
Sharapova looked dejected midway through the
first set as she hit four double-faults, but she
seemed to regain her focus at the start of the
second.
As Sharapova celebrated the win, Halep slumped
in her chair dejectedly despite having reached
her first Masters final.
Nadal keeps dominating
Rafa Nadal won a second successive Madrid
Open title when Kei Nishikori was forced
to retire in the third set of the final with an
apparent back injury.
Japanese 10th seed Nishikori made a blistering
start on Nadal's favoured clay to win the first
set 6-2 and was a break up in the second before
the Spanish world number one hit back to win it
6-4 and force a decider.
In a tremendously disappointing finish to an
entertaining encounter, Nishikori was struck
down by what appeared to be a back spasm and
despite treatment had to retire with
Nadal leading 3-0 in the third set.
