If Rafael Nadal is the King of Clay, perhaps we should call Maria Sharapova the Queen of Clay. It seems to be her best surface since her comeback as she backed up her title in Stuttgart a few weeks ago by defending her title in Rome. It was not a title defense for Nadal, but it may have seemed like it, as he won the Monte Carlo/Barcelona/Rome combo for the 5th time. Four of those years he also won the French Open.
ATP: 2) Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. 1) Novak Djokovic (SRB) 7-5 6-3
-Nadal wins 49th career title, 3rd of 2012, last '12 Barcelona. It is his 6th Rome title.
-After Federer tied the Masters record last week, Nadal pulls back ahead with his 21st Masters title.
-Nadal re-passes Federer to attain no. 2 in the world ahead along with the crucial second seed for the French Open.
-Federer lost to Djokovic 6-2 7-6 in the semis for just his 3rd tour loss of the year, while Ferrer advanced to the semis but was bageled by Nadal in the second set. That victory allowed him to stay at no. 6 ahead of Berdych.
-All matches from the quarterfinals on were straight sets.
WTA: 2) Maria Sharapova (RUS) def. 8) Na Li (CHN) 4-6 6-4 7-6(5)
-Sharapova wins 26th career title, 2nd of 2012, last '12 Stuttgart. It is her 2nd Rome title.
-It is her 10th career "Tier I" title, but just her 2nd on clay.
-Serena, after beating Pennetta 4-0 ret, gave Li a walkover to the final. However, she still reaches no. 5 in the world and can only add points at the French Open.
-Sharapova is now 630 points behind Azarenka, a gap that can certainly be made up at the French Open.
-Kerber upset Kvitova to reach the semis and the top 10. She is now the top ranked German. However, the QF result was a nice recovery for Kvitova to a horrible late winter/spring season.
I hope to get a French Open preview up at some point this week.
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