Ivanovic had beaten Sharapova in their last two meetings, in straight sets in the third round of Rome and in a dramatic three-setter in the semifinals of Cincinnati, and Sharapova looked like a woman on a mission this time, coming out of the blocks on absolute fire, storming out to a 6-0, 1-0 lead.
After mustering up just one winner to 14 unforced errors in the first set, the No.9-seeded Ivanovic steadied herself from there, breaking back at love to get back to 1-all then hanging with Sharapova over the course of the next half hour, staying on serve through 4-all. But the No.4-seeded Sharapova broke one last time for 5-4 and closed it out, 6-1, 6-4, after a marathon 10-minute final game.
"I thought I executed quite well with the plan that I had in mind from the beginning of the match," Sharapova said in her press conference. "I felt that I was really the one kind of going for it, just making her move. Sometimes the rallies I lost were when she was on the run - I was all right with those. I'd rather lose those types of rallies than if she's pushing me back and hitting winners. "It definitely got tricky in the end, but I was happy to get through today.
" Ivanovic was asked afterwards about her growing rivalry against Sharapova"
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