Mason, Ohio: U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters fended off three match points and overcame a rain delay to beat Maria Sharapova 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 for the $2 million Cincinnati Womens Open title on Sunday, a full 12 months since her comeback from retirement at this tournament.
Clijsters bounced back from losing her first set of the week to fight off match points in the ninth game of the second set.
The final was delayed for 74 minutes by rain shortly after Sharapova missed a third chance to win the match late in the second set.
"When the rain started falling, I was like, 'Oh, no,'" Clijsters said. "I was feeling like I could hold here and get a chance for a break. I didn't feel like I was really in trouble. Before the break, I thought the match could go either way."
Clijsters, who reached the quarterfinals here last year in her first tournament out of retirement, struggled with her serve initally, getting only 52 per cent of her first serves into play.
"When we went inside, I had one positive and one negative," said Clijsters. "Actually, I felt comfortable playing my groundstrokes. That was good, because my serve was nowhere to be found. When we came back out, I knew I had to battle throughout, because you're not starting 0-0. You have to be ready to go."
Sharapova started feeling pain in her left heel in the last games of the second set, after the rain delay. Sharapova didn't know if the injury would keep her out of this week's tournament in Montreal.
"I haven't really had any time to talk with the trainer or the doctor and see how it is," she said. "It just kind of flared up out of nowhere, so we'll see how it is."
Clijsters, playing in her first tournament since taking a month off following Wimbledon, seemed unfocused in the first set. She hit just five winners and committed 17 unforced errors while double-faulting seven times.
The two-time U.S. Open champion continued to struggle in the second set. She already was down a break before saving the three match points on her serve in the ninth game as the incoming weather front produced flag-whipping winds, darkened the skies enough to get the lights turned on and produced a downpour that stopped play.
"I think it certainly gave her time to relax," Sharapova said. "More than the conditions themselves, I think it was about just maybe her going in and having a chance to think about what she needs to do differently. She came out and started playing really good tennis."
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