By Erik Gudris | Sunday, October 5, 2014
Maria Sharapova capped off a successful week in Beijing by winning a title and getting a big boost in her ranking.
The Russian superstar ended the recent win streak of Petra Kvitova in China by winning a close three-set final on Sunday. Kvitova was 8-0 in China heading into the final.
Not having dropped a set all week, Sharapova continued that trend by taking the opening one in the final 6-4.
Yet Kvitova bounced back with her big serve to claim the second. Sharapova responded in the third set by jumping out to a 3-0 lead.
Though she missed out on one match point in the seventh game, Sharapova soon served out the match to love completing a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 win.
After losing earlier than expected in Wuhan last week, Sharapova was happy she could turn things around in time for Beijing.
"Within the time frame of only a couple of days until my first round here, I just had to settle down a bit. Sometimes it just takes a few little things to change things around - maybe some of those results ultimately get you to this position," Sharapova said to WTA.com "I'm proud I just took a couple of days and did the work I could, and changed the result here."
Beijing is now the fourth title of the season for Sharapova who next heads to Singapore for the upcoming year-end WTA Finals. The victory also will propel Sharapova up to the No. 2 in the WTA rankings on Monday.