Serena regains No. 1 ranking; Sharapova overcomes tough three-setter against Azarenka

Serena Williams has now pushed Dinara Safina from the top spot in rankings, as she herself will take that spot as of October 12, 2009 after an easy against Ekaterina Makarova, while Maria Sharapova fought for every point against No. 9 seed Victoria Azarenka to win in three tough sets on Tuesday in Beijing.

Williams was broken twice on her serve, but Makarova was broken five times, so that led Williams to a victory with a score of 63 62.

“I think I’ve earned it,” said Serena. “I won two grand slams, and I should have got more. But you know what, I’m just excited to have those two, which is great.

“I just played consistent for all the year. I felt like especially the beginning of the year I did well. I was bothered a little bit by injury but I kept fighting.

“I kept showing up and doing the best I could do. Sometimes there were unfortunate losses, but I really tried. And I think at end of the day that’s what matters.”

Sharapova went through a thrilling match against her Belorussian opponent, winning the first set with an easy score, losing the second in a tiebreak, and coming back from negative positions to win the match with a score of 63 67(5) 75.

"At 2-5 in the third set she had 30-0 on her serve and then 0-30 on my serve at 3-5. Those games were crucial. I just kept to myself no matter what the score was. I knew the match wasn't over until we shook hands," Sharapova told the press afterwards. "I realized I certainly didn't want to go home. I didn't want to leave China that soon. So I just kept going for it and kept being aggressive. I stayed positive. That gets you a long way."

Other winners of the day included No. 4 seed Elena Dementieva, who got past qualifier Melinda Czink 64 63; and No. 7 seed Vera Zvonareva, who ousted Francesca Schiavone 63 60.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Singles – Second Round
(2) Serena Williams (USA) d. Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 63 62
(4) Elena Dementieva (RUS) d. (Q) Melinda Czink (HUN) 64 63
(7) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 63 60
Peng Shuai (CHN) d. (8) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 46 75 62
Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. (9) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) 63 67(5) 75
(10) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. (Q) Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) 36 75 63
(14) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) 62 63
María José Martínez Sánchez (ESP) d. (LL) Vania King (USA) 64 64