Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters Meet for Cincinnati Title
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I’ve pieced together some information, notes from the WTA and video on today’s Western & Southern Financial Group women’s final between former No. 1s Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters.
The match is scheduled for 3pm ET.
Both players are seeking third third title of the season. Sharapova has wins in Memphis and Strasborg, while Clijsters won in Miami and Brisbane.
This will be the eighth meeting between the pair. Clijsters holds a 4-3 edge in their head-to-head meetings (all meetings on hard courts), but this will be their first match up since the 2007 Australian Open semifinals.
Twice in 2003 and two more times in 2005 Clijsters got the better of Sharapova. The tide turned in 2006, and Sharapova has now won three in a row against Clijsters.
Both players are through to the final of Cincinnati for the first time Clijsters and Sharapova are both former world No.1s.
Clijsters and Sharapova have both won 2 titles in 2010; Clijsters has a 2-0 win-loss record in finals this year, while Sharapova is 2-2, having finished runner-up at Birmingham and Stanford.
Clijsters and Sharapova are bidding to become the first player in 2010 to win 3 singles titles.
Sharapova now leads the Tour for finals appearances this year with 5 (after V.Williams on 4).
Clijsters has won 28 of her 37 titles on hard court; and 16 of Sharapova’s 22 titles have come on hard court.
Clijsters is projected to rise to No.5 in the rankings and could go as high as No.4 if wins the title.
Sharapova is projected to improve her ranking to No.12 and could go as high as No.9 if wins the title.
The last time Sharapova was ranked in the world’s Top 10 was 19 January 2009 (as No.9).
This marks Clijsters’ 55th singles final; she has a 37-17 win-loss record in finals.
Sharapova is through to her 33rd singles final; she owns a 22-10 win-loss record.
Clijsters has a 3-1 record against Top 15 players this year (one loss came to No.15 Azarenka at QF of Eastbourne).
Since returning from shoulder surgery, Sharapova has a 7-3 win-loss record against Top 10 players (most recently No.9 A.Radwanska this week).
A win for Clijsters today would see her move past Monica Seles to individually hold the 4th most hard court titles in the Open Era.
Here’s Sharapova presser after her 64 36 62 win last night over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova:
Kim’s presser after Ana Ivanovic retired:
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