Posted by Vassago on 8/23/2011, 3:24 pm

Maria Sharapova (6'2"), wearing a white one-piece swimsuit and red gloves. Jelena Jankovic (5'9") wearing a pink bikini and black gloves.

Round 1
The much taller Russian gets off into a lively start. She starts throw solid punches on her rival, but Jankovic is quick on her feet and dances against the ropes. She tries to punch back, but her jabs and hooks miss the target or Maria is able to guard them without much trouble. Jelena is not looking very feisty, but Maria behaves like she expected something else from her. In the final minute the blonde triggers another attack and firmly traps the brunette in the corner. Jankovic is clinching against the taller figure of Sharapova who tries to shrug her off. Referee breaks them for a moment, but Jelena has escaped onto the centre of the ring much to Maria's wrath. She throws some hooks that catch nothing but the air and the bell brings the opening round to a close. It wasn't pretty boxing, but Sharapova was the more offensive and should take this round.

Round 2
At the start Sharapova jumps straight to Jankovic and tries to pound her away with some heavy blows. The Serbian is much too quick on her feet though and weathers the storm. Sharapova continues to attack and breaks the brunette's guard a couple of times. Everyone saw Jelena's head jumping backwards after Maria went through with her jabs. But the brunette's face is far from being messed up. Maria pushes Jelena against the ropes and tries some hooks to the ribs, Jelena saw it coming and jinked right, underneath Maria's hook that once again flew through the air. Jelena is by far the better mover on the ring, but she's not produced a great deal of attack yet. In the final minute Maria continues to hassle Jelena around the ring, but to no avail as no serious punches are scored. However those two early jabs clearly caught Jelena and Maria takes this round as well helped on by a non-existant offense from the Serbian.

Round 3
There must have been some kind of pep-talk in Jankovic's corner as she comes out and actually shows aggression for the first time in this fight. Sharapova is as much surprised and barely ducks away from a quick left-right combination Jankovic treats her with. The blonde Russian steps forward and throws more jabs but Jelena sneaks under all of them and peppers Maria's ribs in response. Sharapova looks stunned and more frustrated when yet another of her punches clearly misses the target. She's not a fan of clinching and tries to knock everyone out, but even if she wanted to break Jankovic's rhythm, she wouldn't be able to as the brunette dances around her like a hunter around a wounded animal. However Sharapova is anything but a wounded animal.. yet. At the bell Sharapova walks frustrated to her corner, Jankovic made her look pretty lost out there and might have as well scored her first round of the evening.

Round 4
Jelena has firmly discovered how to use her speed advantge across the ring into her favour. She quickly jumps towards the Russian and throws a jab or two before jumping back that slowly but surely will be wearing the taller blonde out. Even with Maria's longer reach, Jelena is able to move away from danger and watch as the Russian's punches slice through the air. But will she be able to knock her out or will she have enough stamina to drag the victory across the line is still undecided. The fourth round proved to be the least entertaining and hardly attracted the any experts eyes.

Round 5
Jankovic comes out even more aggressive allthough not as much as Sharapova in the opening two rounds. She pummels Sharapova's ribs who can only respond in clinching. The blonde tries to shrug off Jankovic but makes a mistake and lowers her left arm too much, suddenly Jankovic's hook catches the Russian in the left eye. That's the biggest hit of this fight so far. Sharapova is clearly dazed and back towards the corner. The brunette pushes her against the ropes but cannot repeat that killer right hook she displayed seconds ago. Maria is biding her time against the ropes and using her height advantage to cover guard over the Serbian's attempts to punch her again. Referee breaks the clinch and warns the Russian for lack of effort. Jelena clearly wants to follow up on that big punch of hers, but to no avail. The round ends with Jankovic making clearly a much better impression.

Round 6
Maria's left eye has begun to swell. And she looks angry on top of that. Jelena has noticed that her rival is now a wounded animal and she's not certain what that makes of the Russian. Sharapova takes advantage of her hesitance and attacks straight away, pushing the brunette along the ropes. Jankovic covers with guard and swerves around Maria's hooks with great ease. Her defense is very impressive but Sharapova is angry and looking to put the Serbian away. Finally she catches her in the ribs as for once Jankovic didn't bend her knees low enough and paid the price. But she manages to fall forward and wrap her arms around Sharapova's waist. The Russian looks even more frustrated but the referee has none of that and hasn't given Jankovic any sort of warning. More clinching allows Jelena to survive the bell, but she has lost this round easily.

Round 7
More attack from Maria at the start and Jelena is soon pushed against the ropes. This time however one of Russian's hooks catches her in the face and she falls down on her knees. Maria smiles at this sight but Jankovic is very quick on her feet again, the referee barely had time to start counting. Looks like Jankovic was trying to regroup herself and perhaps has fallen down not exactly against her own will. Sharapova is stunned at this because she thoughy she really hurt the brunette there. Jankovic has none of it and returns with another jump, another jab and another step back that was so effective in rounds three and four. Sharapova looks equally stunned, but before she can revert to more serious attack, the bell sounds and stops the action in round seven which was probably the most ambiguous of the entire fight.

Round 8
Sharapova tries to get some more punches straight away, apart from a couple of rounds, she always looks to make a point on Jankovic immediately after the bell. Jelena moves backwards and is pummelled against the ropes before one of blonde's uppercuts catches her in the chin. Jankovic's head springs back but she stays on her feet. Maria pounds her in the face but Jelena's guard somehow holds up and prevents her from going down. She ducks really low and Maria is unable to hit her properly hard. Blonde tries to force Jankovic to move away from the ropes and moves around her in order to push her into centre of the ring. Jelena clinches, referee breaks them apart and allows to continue. It's all about survival now for the Serbian and she barely hangs on until the bell. Sharapova looks upset she couldn't finish the brunette off and her eye is still not looking that good, but she feels that there's not much left in Jankovic's tank anymore.

Round 9
No surprise at the start as Sharapova comes in with her superior reach and tests Jankovic's guard with quick cominations. However the brunette's legs seem to have rested enough before this round and she moves away from a couple of devastating hooks that looked good enough to put her away for good. Suddenly Sharapova completely lowers her gloves and seems to invite Jankovic into coming forward. A new tactic from the Russian? Will Jankovic fall for that? Indeed she has, Sharapova is pushed into the corner, but just as Jelena was goinng to throw a solid hook into her face, she gets caught with a crushing uppercut instead. Jelena falls backwards and this time there's no doubt, she's not controlling her limbs anymore. Sharapova tries to pounce and hit her again, but is too slow off the corner and Jankovic hits the canvas after receiving only that one punch. Referee counts her to eight, but she has gotten back up to her feet in the meantime. There's still one minute left in this round and Maria is going for the kill. More soild punches pepper Jankovic against the ropes, but her guard withstands them all. With twenty seconds to go, Sharapova has had enough of this futile efforts and walks back looking at the heavy breathing opponent. She also catches her breath not that easy. Both women walk around and stare at each other as the bell closes the ninth round.

Round 10
It's all or nothing for Jankovic now. She must attack as the scoring judges look to prefer Sharapova as the winner. Indeed, she goes out like a wild woman trying to knock the Russian out in one final attempt. But she's not able to reach the blonde's face as easy as she would have liked and has to take a pause. This allows Maria to jump and push her along the ropes, suddenly both women are landing some heavy jabs right in each other faces. Sharapova delivers more punches, but Jankovic catches her in that wounded eye and forces her to back down alltogether. With one minute remaining there's suddenly a great chance of Jelena pulling off the big upset. However her jabs and hooks are not effective, she's too tired to threaten the Russian anymore. Maria's eye is really looking bad now, but Jelena has no time and no energy left anymore to make her suffer. In the last thirty seconds, the brunette moves forward but Sharapova clinches her well and the final bell sounds with both women in a stalemate at the centre of the ring.

After 10 rounds of boxing we go to the scorecards.

Judge Kader Nouni scores the bout 99-94..
Judge Mariana Alves scores the bout 98-95...
Judge Lynn Welch scores the bout 99-94...

all in favour of the new Western & Southern Open champion... MARIA SHARAPOVA!!!

The winner accepts the verdict and waves to the crowd with both hands. Meanwhile Jelena sits down in her corner breathing very heavily and staring down at the canvas. The fact she avoided being knocked out by the Russian is a small consolation.

Note from author:
The actual tennis match was won by Maria Sharapova 4-6, 7-6, 6-3. Kader Nouni was the chair umpire for the final while Mrs. Alves and Mrs. Welch also serve as chair umpires on WTA tour.