After struggling against her Russian compatriot, world no.4 Elena Dementieva won her first title at the Rogers Cup by beating Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-3 in the final at Montreal, Canada on Sunday. This triumph is only the third for Dementieva over Sharapova in 11 meetings and the third title in 2009.
Dementieva has become a dangerous player over the years as her fitness and her serve have improved. Maria Sharapov, on the other hand, has recovered well from her shoulder surgery but has had trouble with what had been her strongest weapon – her serve – during the past two months.
During the first set, both players began with a surplus of broken serves, double faults and unforced errors. However, Dementieva was more determined to win the set, fighting for every point and winning the first eight points, including three of Sharapova’s double faults, putting the score 4-1. But Sharapova then saved three break points in the next game and held her serve to close the score 4-3 when Dementieva double faulted. After that, both Russians traded breaks until Dementieva finally ended the set by converting her third set point when Sharapova hit the ball into the net, ending with a victory of 6-4 in the first set.
In the second set, both players held serve until the sixth game when Sharapova battled and won two break points. But then Sharapova converted another mistake and hit her shot onto the net to give Dementieva a 4-2 lead. With Sharapova’s mistakes, Dementiva retained her serve throughout the last games and eventually attained, with great effort, the second set 6-3 and her 14th career WTA Tour title.
At the end of the game, the Sharapova said that despite her loss, she thought the final was great preparation for the US Open. She had hoped to improve her serve as she has struggled with it since her return after her shoulder injury.
"No, it's coming back from something that's a pretty serious injury with the shoulder, and when you use it so much and all your groundstrokes and your serve, and you know, my serve is, you know, one of my biggest weapons in the game, and then coming off the injury and kind of tweaking your motion a little bit, it takes a lot of time for adjustments when you do something, you know, for your whole career since you were young and you're used to doing it a certain way, when all of a sudden you have to change it at a very elite level,” Sharapova said.
On the other hand, Elena Dementieva was extremely excited about her accomplishment and her improved playing although she admitted she did not have top form during the final. This title is her first in the Roger Cup, a win that gave her confidence for what’s coming at the U.S Open.
"It's great to have so many good matches against so many top-10 players here. I hope it's going to be good preparation. For sure, this kind of win gives you a lot of confidence, so right now it's all about recovering and getting ready for New York. I just feel so happy to finally win this title. It means a lot to me," said the world no. 4.