Video Related To: Maria Sharapova

Maria has won her second title of 2011 at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. Maria defeated No.13 seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 4-6 7-6 6-3 in 2 hours and 49 minutes. Congratulations Maria! This is Maria's 24th singles title and her second Premier 5 title of 2011. Maria started the first set well, serving good and hitting winners as she took a 4-1 lead but then Jankovic fought back and took the next five games to take the set 6-4. Maria battled back in the second set to force a tie-break which she won 7-3. The first six games of the third set were all breaks of serve until Maria held serve to go 4-3 up and took the next two games to wrap up the win. In the rankings Maria will move up to No.4 with 6346 points (Maria's highest ranking coming back from shoulder surgery over two years ago). Following Kim Clijsters withdrawal from the US Open, Maria will be seeded No.3 there. In another rankings jump, Maria is now No.1 in the race to the WTA Championships. Maria will now take the next week off to prepare for the final Grand Slam of the year at the US Open. The US Open will begin on August 29th.