Sharapova falls at the final hurdle again

Agnieszka Radwanska claimed her second title of the season with a 7-5 6-4 victory over Maria Sharapova at the Sony Ericsson Open.

Radwanska, the fifth seed, needed one hour and 44 minutes to seal her triumph. The Pole, who also took the title in Dubai earlier in 2012, will now move up to a career-high position of four in the world rankings. It was a victory Radwanska founded on her own serve. Second seed Sharapova, who has now lost all four of her final appearances at the Miami event, failed to break once in the match. Radwanska was content to keep the ball in play and wait for Sharapova to make the first mistake. It proved a shrewd tactic as the Russian committed 45 unforced errors in all.

"I got a lot of good wins this year against top players," said Radwanska, who is now 26-4 for the year, all four defeats coming against world number one Victoria Azarenka. "I was trying from the beginning to focus on my serve, put my first serve in and go for it. "I think I did a really good job today and the se

rve was the key."

Maria Sharapova is through to the final of Sony Ericsson Open after coming through a tough three-set match with Caroline Wozniacki.

 

The world number two has yet to win a tournament this year, after losing in the final of both the Australian Open and the BNP Paribas Open to world number one Victoria Azarenka.

But she will not have to face the Belarusian this time around and will instead play fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the final after the Pole beat Azarenka's conqueror, Marion Bartoli, in straight sets.

Sharapova looked like she would take the opening set from Wozniacki, after racing to a 4-1 lead, only for the Dane to reel off five games in a row before taking the set.

However the Russian bounced back to claim the second with ease before coming through a hard-fought final set to run out a 4-6 6-2 6-4 winner in two hours and 34 minutes.

It was a roller-coaster of a match in Miami and Sharapova was delighted that she was able to bounce back after the dramatic loss of the opening set.

"I'm really pleased that after losing that first one, being up and playing really well and then backing off and her stepping up, I could have easily just (gone) down in the second set," she told www.sonyericssonopen.com.

"But I really stepped it up again. I went out there and started being aggressive. I didn't stop after I put myself in a good position. I'm extremely pleased that I pulled it out today."

Sharapova has a 7-1 winning career record over Radwanska and suffered her only defeat at the 2007 US Open.

Andy Murray is through to the quarter-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open after a straight-sets victory over Gilles Simon in Miami.

The Scot had not played for a couple of days as Canadian Milos Raonic had to withdraw through injury in the previous round and it took a while for the British number one to get going.

He had to save three break points in the opening game before securing a break of his own to claim the opening set. And the three-time Grand Slam finalist went on to earn a 6-3 6-4 triumph to set up a last-eight meeting with Serbian ninth seed Janko Tipsarevic. Murray was not too concerned about his slow start to the match and felt the tough opening game actually helped him to overcome the Frenchman.

"The first game probably helped because I saved a couple of break points," he told www.atptour.com. "After that, I kind of loosened up a little bit and felt much better. "So that first game, even though it was like 17, 18 minutes, was probably a good thing after not playing for a few days."

World number one Novak Djokovic is also through to the last eight after beating Frenchman Richard Gasquet 7-5 6-3, and he will now play Spaniard David Ferrer, who beat Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro 6-3 6-3. Second seed Rafael Nadal also progressed with a 6-4 6-4 success over Japan's Kei Nishikori but there are concerns over his fitness as he took a medical break with a knee injury late in the opening set. American Mardy Fish is also through after beating Nicolas Almagro 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 6-3.

Albert Montañés Roca (born 26 November 1980 in Sant Carles de la Ràpita, Spain) is a professional tennis player from Spain.He first entered the top-100 in 2001 and has been in the top-100 for all but 20 weeks since then. As of August 2010, he has a career high ranking of #22. He is well known for his mental toughness, and is one of the very few players to ever win a title after saving match points in two different matches, he did it in Estoril 2009 (in the quarter-finals and in the final).

12BET Mikhail Kukushkin (Russian: Михаил Александрович Кукушкин, born 26 December 1987) is a professional Kazakh tennis player of Russian origin.2009, he came through qualifying to reach the main draw of a Masters Series 1000 tournament for the first time at the Miami Masters. He beat Tommy Haas in the first round, but lost to Dmitry Tursunov in the second round. In September 2010, during the Davis Cup play-offs, he notably beat Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka. His good form continued, later reaching and winning his maiden ATP World Tour title, as he beat Mikhail Youzhny in the final of the St. Petersburg Open

ATP - Shanghai Rolex Masters

  Florina Mayer, currently 22nd in the ATP World Rankings, is a big favourite in this match. He has been playing well in 2011, recording 38 wins and 22 losses and will searcg only for the win today.On the other hand Fognini, currently 39th in the ATP World rankings, is an underdog in this game. Despite thag he has been playing solid tennis this season, recording 22 wins and 24 losses. Yet he will have a tough time against a solid opponent like Florian.