Maria Sharapova wins IW and is back to world number 2

It had been a long while since Maria Sharapova won her last tournament on Hard Outdoor, but the last year Roland Garros champion couldn't hope for a better stage to find a title on the favourite surface. The Russian lost no sets in her win to the title, defeating two top 10 players and as a result to this run she will be back to world n°2 in the next week ranking.
Masha's way to the final might have seen no sets lost, but it was as easy as it may seem: in her first match on round 2, she had no problems against an uninspired Francesca Schiavone, but already in the 3rd round she needed all her attitude to run away with a win in straight sets against Spanish Carla Suarez Navarro. The Spaniard took advantage of a Sharapova's not-so-good day and definitely had her chances to win the first set and take the lead in the second, but despite the difficulties Maria fought back and closed 7-5 6-3.
Another round, another Spanish player to fight against in the first set before closing it 7-5 in her favor, but this time it was a more modest opponent, Lara Arruabarrena Vecino, whose inexperience on big stages took a toll on her called disbelief and in the second set she just raised white flag, while Masha sailed onto the next round with a 7-5 6-0 victory.
In the QF she faced Italian Sara Errani, in the rematch of the RG final, but if in Paris Maria never looked in troubles, here she had a lot of problems given by Errani's continuous changes of pace and lenght. Sarita served for the first set and had a bunch of set points, but in the end Maria could find a way out and closed the set in a long tie-break. The second set wasn't any less of a battle as the Italian didn't let the lost chances discomfort her, but her lack of a powerful serve in the end made the difference and Sharapova could win the match 7-6 (6) 6-2.

Waiting for Maria in the semifinal, there was the surprise of the tournament: Maria Kirilenko, who came through a really "packed" section of the draw, where she -for the first time in her career- defeated two top tenners in a row, edging world n°4 Agnieska Radwanska 7-5 in the third and then coming out of a deep hole against Kvitova in the quarters, as she was down of a set and a break before entering in the Czech mind and gradually destroy her confidence and finally win the match.
The match between the two Marias ended in straight sets, but there was a lot to regret for Kirilenko as by the end of the match she could transform none of the many balls she had to break Sharapova. 6-4 6-3 in the end, but Maria looked on her way to find a much more solid game than in the earlier rounds and she knew she needed all the consistency she is capable of in order to beat Caroline Wozniacki, who was meant to meet her in the final and is known for the few points she gives away for free.
The former world n°1 arrived to this final after a marathon match and incredible mental battle against German friend and seed n°4 Angelique Kerber (oddly enough both of them reached their final thanks to a walk over as Azarenka and Stosur had to pull out because of injuries before their matches).

Kerber, who was leading the H2H for 3-2 with all the last 3 matches played last year ended in her favor, was the favourite for the win and she didn't let the expectations down as a terrific start let no chances to a Wozniacki that looked left with no key to break Kerber's defence. The German took easily the first set, but then in the second the Dane started to cut down the errors and mostly decided to change strategy and added more variety to her game, forcing Angie to adapt to the different balls continuously until her error or an easy ball to attack came.
The match grew of intensity and the public loved it, as the two girls fought hard for every point until the very end, when finally Caroline could close 7-5 in the third to get back to a Premier Mandatory final after almost two years.
In the final though Caroline knew that she couldn't rely on the same strategy she used to break down Kerber, as Sharapova is known for her ability to jump on high-balls and smack winners out of those, moreover the Russian hits always very hard and flat shots, that makes it really hard to rally with her. At the same time Maria knew she had to avoid rallying with Wozniacki if she wanted to stay away from her territory and she needed to put pressure on her serve from the very beginning.
So it was, Maria started tremendously breaking to love and holding back in a few minutes. Winner on winner, the Russian completely gave no breath to Wozniacki, whose strategy seemed to very soon move to "try to survive" mode, as there was very few she could do against such an inspired Sharapova.

The two sets moved on on a very similar plot, with the Dane starting bad and then trying to pressure more Maria, with stronger, deeper and sharper shots whenever she had the chance, but those chances happened very rarely as Sharapova dominated most of the rallies from Serve or Return. 6-2 6-2 the final score in favor of the Russian, who later said about the match:
"The scoreline makes the match look a lot easier than it was - it was a tough match, a tough battle, and there were a lot of games that went to deuce and long games, those games could have easily swung the other way, especially some opportunities she had in the second set. I felt like I was always a foot ahead though, especially with the breaks - I served well today, and that helped me."
"She was putting pressure on me from the start," said Wozniacki. "I felt like everything she wanted to do today was going in - she was making very few errors, and when she did, it was at times where it didn't really matter. Her first and second serves were pretty much the same speed, she stepped into the returns, and even when she was running, she still came down with some shots that were going very close to the lines. I have to say she just played too well."
 Caroline's reaction after the match was good though, as she knew she had a good week and a lot of positives to take from the two weeks in California despite the severe loss in the final: 
"I have to be happy with the finals here. It's a very big tournament. It's been a good two weeks for me. I've been fighting and playing some really good tennis. I've been having to think a lot and play some chess out there - I've had to play aggressive, defensive, and everything that I had. Today there wasn't time for chess."

But the WTA doesn't give time for breaks and this week all the protagonists of Indian Wells will be playing for another important Mandatory Title in Miami.

Maze and Hirscher win 2013 ski world-cup

Maze wins and breaks records but can't take all the Globes

24 podiums, 11 victories, 2 "small globes" and the Overall title with record of points ever scored by a human being in a single season. Yes, Tina Maze just finished the best season ever in the history of ski world cup, but probably a little of a bitter taste stayed as she was very close to win all the crystal globes possible. She unarguably very unlucky with the cancellation of the final downhill where a top 7 finish would have given her the title, no matter the results of the others as she was just 1 point trailing to the injured Lindsey Vonn, who thanks to the horrible weather (and in all honesty the dumbness of FIS rules, which don't let the final races be replaced, not even in the space of the same week) won the crystal globe for the 6th time in a row - that's a record too-.
The same bad weather forced the organizers to cancel the superg too and by the effect of this choice, Tina won the superg globe without the need of defending it from the last assault of the only rival left, Julia Mancuso, who later of twitter expressed all her resentment towards FIS, which decided to hold the team event the really next day, instead of letting girls fight for either the superg or downhill title.
It wasn't then a surprise that USA pulled out of the team event and Maze didn't compete for her country there. In that atmosphere of controversy Germany could run off with the victory ahead of Sweden and Italy.
Saturday was then the day of the slalom, the last unsecure title to be given in the season, Maze was leading the standing thanks to a win in the last race, which made her overcome Mikaela Shiffrin, but the two were just few points away one from the other, hence the one of the two placing ahead of the other would have won the title.

After the first run Maze seemed so sure of the win, as she was leading the race with a margin of over a second, but in the second run the just-become-adult Shiffrin, having nothing to lose skied probably the most impressive run of the year pulverizing whatever attempt to overcome her in the final standing. As usual Tina tried it all, but there was nothing she could have done there and in the end she finished only 3rd, behind a surprising Bernadette Schild.
Tears run down the face of Tina as she crossed the finish line, Lenzerheide, after having given her first win in slalom two years ago, seemed to have become jinxed as in two days she lost everything she could have lost, but all in honesty Shiffrin totally deserved this title and for sure she will see many more coming in the next years, so there's no shame in losing a tight battle with her.

In the last day of this 2013 ski world cup GS was to be hold. Title was already secure to go to Tina, but despite that, you could see how much she wanted to finish this season well, because she attacked from the very first gates of the first run too and she was second only to Tessa Worley when one run was yet to be done.
In the second run a great comeback avoided Lara Gut to snatch her second ever podium in Giant Slalom, but nothing could stop Maze to take her 11th win of the season, she was just flawless and not even an inspired second run by Worley could do much to stop her. Tessa finished second in the end and Tina could finish the season exactly the same way as she started, winning.

Weather kills Svindal's last chances, Marcel wins the Overall again

Heading to the world cup finals Aksel Lund Svindal knew his hopes for the overall title were really few, he was trailing in the run for the title of some 50 points to Hirscher, but he could have had a chance if he had won both the downhill and the superg as everything would have then been on the Austrian's young shoulders, but the Norge didn't even have the chance to try, because as it happened for the Ladies, weather has been harsh during the days of the speed events and forced organizers to call them off.

Svindal won two globes nevertheless, the superg and the downhill ones, yet this wasn't enough to challenge Hircher as the number of slalom and giant slaloms this season was a lot bigger than the one of speed races and in the technical ones Marcel kept an impressive pace, which in the end could give him the overall title, even if he competed only in those two events.
After the team event, it was giant slalom's day and as usual it was an only man show, with Ted Ligety dominating the race in both runs, in the second of which he tamed the attack of Hirscher and Pinturault, who finished 2nd and 3rd, making the final standingof the race, the same of the GS cup!

Last day was the one for slalom, once again everything was already decided for the discipline globe and the overall was already "booked" under Hirscher's name, nonetheless the race was hugely enetertaining and in the end Felix Neureuther could snatch an impressive win over Hirscher and the once again incredible Ivica Kostelic, who's been able to win last week in Kranjska Gora and now to finish on podium despite another severe injury occurred to his knee not long ago.

Garmisch ends in Tinas' favor

The long weekend of speed races that took place in Garmisch P.K. was full of surprises and thrill, records which got broken and bettered, but also showed some of the darkest sides of sport, when Alice McKennis, the young American specialist of speed races, crashed suffering a severe injure at her tibia and later the same day, Tina Maze recived some life threatening which forced her to be escorted to the slopes for the last day.

Weirather wins her maiden race

Friday was the day the first Superg took place, it was the replacement of the one cancelled in Val D'Isere and the eyes of the fans were all set on Maze and Mancuso, as the two were very close before this race battling for the cristal globe for the discipline, but the this time, no-one of the two took the win.
The young girl from Liechtenstein, who's known not only for her famous parents, but also for the great talent and the incredible high number of severe injuries she suffered, started with a very early number, but very motivated by the knowledge of her good feeling with the slope, since last year she scored here one of the two podiums in the discipline she achieved so far. Tina, despite finishing 2nd in the final downhill ranking last year, had never won a race in WC and after a promising start in Lake Louise this year, a minor injury relegated her to some minor placements far from the podium. Today it was different though and she let all the bad thoughts behind the very moment she opened the starting gate, she pushed hard and tried to cut the lines and suceeded in doing so. Tina was almost flawless and no-one later in the race could better her time, giving finally the first victory in world cup to her.
Podium got completed by the two rivals for the cristal globe and to add more suspence to the chase of the cup, Julia Mancuso and Tina Maze scored exactly the same time to finish 2nd.
4th came Austrian Anna Fenninger just ahead of compatriot Nicole Hosp (at the best placement in two years) and in-form Spanish Ruiz-Castillo.

Maze wins and breaks 2000 points

"The most amazing thing from today it was that I won a Downhill. This season I had several good runs, but I never found the victory. My first win was lucky, but today I tried to win by skiing my best" Those were the words of Tina Maze after the incredible win scored in the Downhill of Saturday, with this victory Tina becomes the 3rd woman to ever win in all the disciplines within the same season (after Kronberger and Kostelic), not only, she broke the limit of 2000 points when 7 races are still left and goes just one point away from winning the Downhill cup too.
How could she win this? When the first girls came down Italian Merighetti was leading the race with a solid advantage, but right after her run American McKennis crashed in the final section with the horrible outcome of a severe injury that forced the helicopter to come and recue her. The interruption changed the conditions of the snow which became a lot faster and so the race suddenly changed in its lead.
Lara Gut scored a terrific run and looked on her way for a great result, but not longly after it was Maze's time to test the slope. Tina stayed close to the swiss already in the gliding early section which is always her weak-spot. After that it was just a pure show of class: the Slovene painted incredible lines and attacked the slope with the temper that characterizes her best days. She finished with 74 hundreds over Lara and you could know she was safe for another podium, but she wanted more, she wanted that win.

Not even the home favourite Maria Riesch could do better trajectories than Maze and despite having a small edge on her in the gliding sections, the German couldn't snatch a win on home soil and prevent Maze from taking everything from this win. The slope turned to get faster with the time passing though and Riesch couldn't hold her 2nd place as Laurenne Ross, another youngster of the American Team, made even Tina fear for the worst, but in the end closed behind the World Cup leader, still ahead of the German and by this, scoring her best result in WC.

Fenninger wins first Superg 

Another day, another superg, same rivalry from two days before. But today in Garmisch the setting was quite different and a lot more challenging, mostly because a lot of gates where "blind", hidden behind really tricky waves.

During the night a terrible news hit the German town as Tina Maze recived death threatens from some unknown man and police patroled her hotel and then escorted her to the lifts in the morning.
The new setting seem to suit again the abilities of Tina Weirather as she took the lead and didn't leave it until the top group was to start. Julia Mancuso, this time though, was faster than Tina and made some unbelievable turns up in the steep part to take the lead of the race.
Immediatly after her run it was Maze's time and Tina looked eager for another win, but a bad mistake on one of those nasty waves cost her all the advantage she had over the American and in the end she couldn't make up for that and had to content herself to finish just behind her rival.

The race was far from being decided though, Maria Riesch wanted badly to take a win in her home race and she fought very hard in order to do so. A very smart attitude on the difficult passages and the usual great gliding in the flat sections secured her a good lead in the last intermediate and not even the impressive last leg of the American couldn't make her lose all the advantage.
Riesch's leadership wasn't meant to last and the cheerful screaming of the German crowd was to be silenced soon as Austrian Anna Fenninger exploited her great talent of GS specialist in the big turns of the middle section and this way she launched the final flat at an incredible speed, worth of the best time there and even on the final.
Germany could soon forget the missed-win from Riesch as Veronique Hronek skied some great sections and was leading for half of the race and despite the mistake where many of the racers went out, she could still finish 5th, her best result in World Cup.