Maria has won her first title of her comeback from shoulder injury at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo after #7 seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia retired with a wrist injury. Maria was leading 5-2 30-0 when Jankovic retired. This is Maria's 1st title of 2009 and the 20th of her career.
Jankovic took a 2-0 lead in the 1st set by breaking Maria in the 1st game. Then the momentum switched to Maria's side of the court as she took the next 5 games, Maria levelled the set 2-2 when Jankovic netted a forehand. Jankovic was leading 40-0 on her service game but Maria started to play powerful and accurate returns and took the next 5 points to lead 4-2. Maria then held her serve and at the changeover Jankovic had an injury time-out for a wrist injury and played 2 more points on her service game and retired.
After the win Maria said: "It was my second final of the year, so I was a bit nervous. It was very tough because Jelena started off so strong. I wanted to perform really well. I feel like I played good enough tennis to give her a go and I just wanted to keep fighting out there. It's never easy to win a match like this. Obviously, it's very important for Jelena to be healthy and we want to compete at our 100%. We have gotten a lot of injuries. This is towards the end of the year. I wish Jelena a speedy recovery."
In the new rankings to be released on Monday, Maria will move up to #15 with 2680 points and she gained 800 points here.
Jankovic took a 2-0 lead in the 1st set by breaking Maria in the 1st game. Then the momentum switched to Maria's side of the court as she took the next 5 games, Maria levelled the set 2-2 when Jankovic netted a forehand. Jankovic was leading 40-0 on her service game but Maria started to play powerful and accurate returns and took the next 5 points to lead 4-2. Maria then held her serve and at the changeover Jankovic had an injury time-out for a wrist injury and played 2 more points on her service game and retired.
After the win Maria said: "It was my second final of the year, so I was a bit nervous. It was very tough because Jelena started off so strong. I wanted to perform really well. I feel like I played good enough tennis to give her a go and I just wanted to keep fighting out there. It's never easy to win a match like this. Obviously, it's very important for Jelena to be healthy and we want to compete at our 100%. We have gotten a lot of injuries. This is towards the end of the year. I wish Jelena a speedy recovery."
In the new rankings to be released on Monday, Maria will move up to #15 with 2680 points and she gained 800 points here.
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