Two former French Open champions faced off in one of the WTA’s biggest indoor events.
The year 2014 started off with Maria Sharapova finding herself in a familiar situation: Coming back from a shoulder injury. She was forced to shut down her 2013 campaign before the US Open and didn’t return to action until the Australian swing. While she posted some solid results on hard courts, things didn’t fully get into gear until Stuttgart, where she was the two-time defending champion.
After barely surviving her first-round match against Lucie Safarova, Sharapova didn’t drop another set on her way to the final, notching wins against top-seed Agnieszka Radwanska and Sara Errani along the way.
The other side of the draw featured a player that was showing signs of her Grand Slam-winning past. Ana Ivanovic entered Stuttgart having won two titles in 2014. After her French Open triumph in 2008 and subsequent rise to No. 1, the Serb had battled with setbacks in form and confidence. She reached the final with wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova and countrywoman Jelena Jankovic.
Going into the title match, Sharapova had won seven of their nine prior encounters, including the last six. However, it was Ivanovic who came out firing as she took the first five games of the match. Sharapova would get on the board, but Ivanovic still took it, 6-3.
Early in the second set, it was more of the same as Ivanovic went up an early break. But Sharapova’s persistence—and power—erased that lead, and she went on to take the second set, 6-4.
Sharapova rolled from there. Blasting winners from all parts of the court, the Russian sealed the final set, 6-1 for her third straight Stuttgart title.
'08
The Stuttgart final was the first final on clay that Ivanovic played in since her French Open triumph in 2008.
7
Out of her 30 career titles, this was the seventh time Sharapova rallied from a set down in the championship match to win.