Sharipova stops a fighting Stojanovic

Sabina Sharipova turned the match on its head in the climax to beat Nina Stojanovic of Serbia 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the final of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Saturday.

The 19-year-old Nina was leading 3-0 in the decider in a gripping contest in which both the players hit their strokes with fluency, but the 21-year-old Uzbek slowly clawed her way back to nose ahead.

“I don’t know what happened,” said Nina, even as she heartily congratulated Sharipova for the title.

Nina did have a hip injury that needed medical attention at 3-2 in the third set, but she did not show any discomfort in running all over the court and making a fight of it.

Cheered by a small set of people from the Embassy, who sported a big banner with Uzbekistan written on it apart from a solitary flag, Sharipova kept chasing every shot in winning five games in a row to take a 5-3 lead in the decider.

It was a very close race, as Nina converted six of nine breakpoints, while Sharipova won seven of 16 breakpoints that she forced. It was the seventh title for Sharipova in the professional circuit, and third at the $25,000 level.

After having been part of the Uzbekistan team that was relegated from group-1 to group-2 in the Asia-Oceania zone recently in Thailand, Sharipova had shown considerable courage to pep up her fortunes. “I started playing better and better,” said Sabina.

Sharipova thanked her father and the small bunch of supporters for the constant encouragement. The champion collected 27 WTA points. The results (final): Sabina Sharipova (Uzb) bt Nina Stojanovic (Srb) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.