ATP-WTA Cincinnati: Andy Murray Wins As Injured Novak Djokovic Retires; Maria Sharapova Outlasts Jelena Jankovic

CINCINNATI -- No. 4 seed Maria Sharapova took care of some unfinished business Sunday evening at the 2011 Western & Southern Open.

Sharapova, who had two match points against eventual champion Kim Clijsters in the final of the 2010 tournament, defeated No. 13 seed Jelena Jankovic 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3 in the final of the 2011 event, edging out the title in a dramatic match that finished in two hours, 53 minutes.

Sharapova started the match the sharper of the two, winning four games in a row to race out to a 4-1 lead in the first set. But after a dispute with chair umpire Kader Nouni about how much time Sharapova was taking between points on return, Jankovic found her rhythm, and reeled off seven straight games, winning the first set 6-4, and taking a 2-0 advantage in the second.

But Sharapova gritted her way through, overcoming 27 unforced errors in the second set, taking it 7-6(3) in a tiebreak.

CINCINNATI -- Early on in the men’s singles final of the 2011 Western & Southern Open, it was clear that No. 1 Novak Djokovic was not at full strength.

Facing No. 4 Andy Murray, Djokovic was out of energy and without power almost from the very first ball. Murray broke Djokovic’s serve in the first game, leaving the Serb’s head hanging early on. Though Djokovic broke back to level the set at 3-3, his visible fatigue even early in the match made it tough to think he would have much of a shot of winning.

And when Murray broke Djokovic right back with a 42-stroke rally on break point, the writing seemed to be on the wall.

After Murray finished off the first set 6-4, the trainer came out for Djokovic, working on his shoulder while Djokovic grimaced.

After being broken twice in the first three games of the second set to trail 0-3, Djokovic pulled the ripcord, retiring and giving Murray the seventh Masters/1000 title of his career.

Less than a minute after Djokovic retired, biblical rain poured down over the stadium. Had Djokovic waited, he likely would have been able to take advantage of a break of an hour or so.

Largely because of how the match finished, Murray was subdued in victory. He said he could tell that Djokovic’s serve and forehand were impaired by the injury early in the second set.

“I knew it when I broke him in the first game. I thought that was when it became obvious,” he said afterwards.

Djokovic, who had not lost a match on hard courts all year, loses for only the second time this year (albeit with an asterisk), dropping his 2011 record to a pauperly 57-2.

“It’s unfortunate that I had to finish this way. I apologize to the tournament; I apologize to the people who came here today to watch the match. I really tried. Didn’t make sense for me to continue,” Djokovic said after the match.

Djokovic said that his serve and forehand (especially his running forehand) were most affected by his shoulder injury. He added that his shoulder has bothered him for 10 days, that he has not had an MRI or any other diagnostic test to determine what exactly is wrong with it.

“The reason is shoulder pain,” Djokovic said when asked for the reason why he withdrew. “I just could not serve. I served an average 90 miles per hour the first serve, and I could not play forehands.

You know, I could have maybe played another couple of games, but what for? I cannot beat a player like Murray today with one stroke.”

But Djokovic does not expect the injury to affect him in New York, where he will look to become the fifth player since 2004 to win three Grand Slam titles in one year.

“I am confident that I can recover and be ready for US Open,” he said.

CINCINNATI -- Serena Williams withdrew from the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati Wednesday before her scheduled second round match against Samantha Stosur, citing a “right big toe injury aggravation.”

Williams had missed her scheduled practice session in the morning, and her withdrawal was announced shortly thereafter.

CINCINNATI -- Embattled WTA No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki suffered her third straight loss and second straight straight-set defeat in her first match at a tournament, defeated by American wild card Christina McHale in 6-4, 7-5 on the Grandstand court.

Wozniacki, who received a bye into the second round because of her ranking, also lost her first match last week in Toronto, falling to Italian Roberta Vinci by the same score, 6-4, 7-5.

CINCINNATI -- Like slamless No. 1s Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic before her, Caroline Wozniacki faces weekly (if not daily) questions about the flaws in her defense-oriented game and the credibility of her place as a No. 1 ranked player who has not won a Grand Slam.

But having spent now spent longer at No. 1 than Safina and Jankovic combined, (as well as longer than Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters, and several other multiple Grand Slam winnerss), Caroline “Sunshine” Wozniacki has gotten these questions more than anyone in the history of the sport.

CINCINNATI -- As she first told SB Nation in July, Martina Hingis was asked a member of Roger Federer’s camp about coming out of retirement to play mixed doubles with Federer for Switzerland at the 2012 Olympics in London. Mixed Doubles is being introduced as a discipline in the tennis competition for the first time in the Open Era at the London Olympics, and will be held on the grounds of the All-England Club, the site of Wimbledon.

But once the story blew up in Switzerland and around the rest of the tennis world, Hingis seemed to retreat, clearly not expecting the attention the story brought her. Hingis has still not completely ruled out the possibility, and emphasized in later interviews that she had yet to speak to Roger Federer directly.