TENNIS in DEPTH.

“Although I might not be the best mover on clay or the best slider or strongest player with the strongest legs, there is a lot more than these things in tennis and that is the reason why I won. ”I’m moving better and I feel better and better with every year. I am stronger and this is one of the most important things that has helped me in that I recover a lot better. I feel stronger.”

At Roland Garros her only competition will be from Kim Clijsters, but at Wimbledon, where she has won before and where her big serve and heavy groundstrokes whistle by her opponents ears, she is insurmountable.

Maria Sharapova is refusing to comment on her chances of success at the French Open despite her victory at the Rome International. The Russian overcame Samantha Stosur, last year’s French Open finalist, 6-2 6-4 in Italy to win her first title in nearly 12 months. And although Sharapova also saw off world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki at the tournament, she insists she won’t be setting any targets in Paris as she looks to complete a career grand slam. ”I’m not really playing down my chances. I’m just saying that it’s not really my job to critique or to predict,” she said. ”I think this is the journalist’s job and my job is to go out there and play tennis and try to win the tournament. But I think women’s tennis is deeper than before.”

The former world No.1, though, will head to Roland Garros with renewed hope after improving her strength. ”I am definitely happy with the title here and like I said before, and I will say it again, I feel better and better,” said Sharapova.

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Novak Djokovic maintained his unbeaten record in 2011 and landed his seventh title in an already astonishing year by defeating Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-4 in the final of the Rome Masters. The Serbian has now won 39 consecutive matches – 37 this year – and will head to Roland Garros for the French Open confident of adding to the Australian Open crown he claimed in January. Nadal fought valiantly but he has now lost in four finals this year to Djokovic – in Indian Wells, Miami and, last week, on clay in Madrid, as well as Rome.

In a final of astonishing quality, the two players traded heavy groundstrokes from the back of the court with little to separate the top two in the world. But it was Djokovic who struck first to break for a 5-3 lead when the Spaniard shanked a backhand long. Nadal struck back immediately but he could not stave off Djokovic’s charge and the Serbian broke again to wrap up the set. The momentum continued in the second with Djokovic claiming the Nadal serve to go 2-0 up. But again he conceded the break in the next game as Nadal, a five-time winner at the Foro Italico, hit back as he tried to retain the title he had won in the past two years. The match remained on serve until 4-5 on the Nadal delivery. Djokovic upped his game to move 40-0 up and, after Nadal had saved the first three match points, the Serbian won it on his fourth by putting away a forehand when a Nadal groundstroke sat up nicely after hitting the net.

Djokovic is now just seven wins away from matching the longest winning streak in ATP Tour history, a run of 46 consecutive victories achieved by Guillermo Vilas in 1977.

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Maria Sharapova collected her first tour title since Strasbourg in May last year as she beat Samantha Stosur in the final of the Rome Masters. After rain had delayed the start for several hours, Stosur began slowly, winning just three points in the first four games to trail 0-4. Having claimed the first set with ease, world number eight Sharapova then found her opponent in more competitive mood. But Stosur could not win the important points, and Sharapova won 6-2 6-4. Australia’s Stosur, 27, the world number seven, had beaten French Open champion Francesca Schiavone and then fourth seed Li Na to reach the final in good shape. But she initially struggled to get her first serve going and dished out a number of unforced errors to make Sharapova’s task a relatively easy one in the first set.

The Russian, 24, who has not won a grand slam event since the 2008 Australian Open and subsequent shoulder surgery, was put under more pressure in the second set. Stosur reacted well after being broken in the first game of the second set and converted a break point of her own with a big forehand and then opened up a 2-1 lead. She began to win her share of baseline rallies, and had some joy when pulling Sharapova across court with the Russian’s reluctance to slide on the clay beginning to hamper her. But Sharapova did not allow Stosur to get on top of her, breaking the Australian for a second time and saving two break points in the next game to open up a 4-2 lead. With the next three games going with serve, the Russian found herself serving for the match at 5-4 and duly triumphed with a winning forehand hit wide to the Stosur backhand.

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Novak Djokovic’s amazing winning run was extended as he edged an epic semi-final encounter with Andy Murray to set up a Rome Masters final against world number one Rafael Nadal. The Serbian world number two, heading into the match with an undefeated record of 35-0 this season, cruised through the first set before being pegged back as Murray found his rhythm. But, after a topsy-turvy decider which saw Murray serve for the set at 5-4, Djokovic refused to be beaten. He broke back, forced a tie-break and then stormed through it to triumph 6-1 3-6 7-6 (7/2).

Djokovic held his opening service game to love and then broke his opponent, Murray’s unforced backhand error into the net handing the world number two a 2-0 lead. Murray, who lost the first set 6-1 to German Florian Mayer on Friday and spoke afterwards about the need to start well against Djokovic, must have feared the worst but showed great fight to get the break straight back in game three – reducing the deficit with a delightful drop shot. However, the match swung once again in the Serbian’s favour as he broke the Scot to love again to go 3-1 up. Djokovic stormed into a 30-0 lead, helped by Murray’s inability to land a first serve, and bossed the next two rallies to take the game comfortably. The Australian Open champion held his serve with ease in the following game and then left the British number one with an even steeper mountain to climb by securing a double break – again aided by a Murray double fault and a weak volley. Djokovic was well in charge and continued to give the Dunblane-born star the runaround when he served for the set en route to taking it 6-1. Murray looked purposeful at the start of the second set, held his serve convincingly and then gave Djokovic something to think about in game two. The next three games went comfortably with serve before a rare long forehand from Djokovic handed Murray a break of serve – and a 4-2 advantage. Murray battled to hold serve to go 5-2 up, Djokovic finding the net a couple of times and sensing the set was slipping away from him. Djokovic saved two set points on his serve in the next game but had no answer when a rejuvenated Murray served for the set, the Scot forcing his opponent to stay deep and clinching the set with a superb crosscourt passing shot.

Murray made Djokovic work hard to hold serve in the opening game of the decider and then breezed through his opening service game to level. The Belgrade-born player held to love in the next game, finishing it off with a fierce smash down the middle, and then looked to have taken a stranglehold on the match when a Murray backhand into the net gave Djokovic a break and a 3-1 lead. But the Scot was not giving up the fight and broke straight back thanks to a couple of superb returns and then held to level once more at 3-3.

Both players were producing high-quality tennis, matching each other shot for shot and break for break. Murray looked to have put himself in the driving seat when he broke to love in game seven but the equally resilient Serbian hit back to level, a brilliant clipped volley making it 4-4. Yet another break gave Murray a 5-4 advantage and the chance to serve for the match, but Djokovic produced some nerveless, gutsy strokes to level once more. The final two games of the set went with serve before Djokovic, still showing remarkable energy and endeavour, took control for good. There were yet more brilliant rallies for the packed crowd to enjoy, punctuated by the odd volleyed error from Murray and fierce winner from Djokovic to extend the Serbian’s staggering winning run this year to 36 matches.

Nadal earlier cruised into the final thanks to a 7-5 6-1 win over France’s Richard Gasquet.

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Sharapova stunned world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki with a straight-set victory in the semifinals at the $2.05 million Internazionali d’Italia tennis event. A seventh-seeded Sharapova advanced to her second WTA singles final of the year with a 7-5, 6-3 triumph over the 20-year-old Dane on the red clay at Foro Italico. The former top-ranked star earned seven service breaks in a match that last just under 1 hour, 50 minutes. Sharapova lost to Victoria Azarenka at Miami to drop her record in title matches to 22-12.

In Sunday’s championship match, Sharapova will face Samantha Stosur after the sixth-seeded Aussie bested Australian Open runner-up Li Na 7-6 (8-6), 6-0 to reach her first final of 2011. The 27-year-old Stosur has won just two titles and was a runner-up to Francesca Schiavone at last year’s French Open. Li, seeded fourth this week, was aiming to reach her third final of the year. She defeated Kim Clijsters to capture her fourth career WTA singles title in Sydney before Clijsters returned the favor with a three-set win at this year’s first Grand Slam.

Sharapova is 7-0 lifetime against Stosur.

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Murray, who turns 24 on Sunday, is again talking about becoming number one in the world, but faces a stiff challenge against the man most likely to succeed Rafael Nadal at the top of the rankings. The British number one earned the right to take on Djokovic in the Italian capital after knocking out Germany’s Florian Mayer in three sets. The tussle with Djokovic will be Murray’s second semi-final on clay already this season, and also a rematch after his defeat to the Serbian in the Australian Open final at the start of the year. Murray has struggled on clay in the past but has invested extra effort this season to improve his all-court performance. Before this year, he had won just two of his seven matches in Rome.

“I struggle a little bit and at this tournament particularly in the past,” Murray said. ”I’ve had some good wins and I feel more comfortable than I did in the past and yes, I want to be playing at the latter stages of these events and if I want to get to number one in the world then you need to play well on all of the surfaces because Roger (Federer), Rafa (Nadal) and Novak play well on all the courts. ”I need to improve my game on the surface and it’s been better this year.”

Murray has now gone further than Tim Henman or Greg Rusedski ever managed in Rome, and indeed is the first British man since 1932 to reach the semi-finals of the tournament.

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Federer’s hopes of spending more time on the clay courts ahead of the French Open, which starts on 22 May, were dashed by Gasquet, who came from a set down to beat the Swiss 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 for the first time since 2005. The Frenchman lost the first 10 points of the match, but hit back to win the next 10 as they shared the first six games. But Federer made the crucial break in game seven and when he broke again in game five of the second set, a straightforward victory looked likely. However, Gasquet broke back and took the set to a tie-break which he won with a service winner. The final set also went to a tie-break and this time, Federer missed the line with a forehand to set up match point before sending a backhand long to gift Gasquet the win. ”I had a lot of good chances at a set, 4-3 and serving and then at 4-4 and 15-40 (on Gasquet’s serve),” said Federer.

“It was tough to play out there, it was a slippery court. Richard started to play better as the match went on. In particular he was serving better, my level went down and Richard made it worse. ”It was tough, I never felt I was probably going to win the (third set) breaker, it’s not fun to play that way.”

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Dinara Safina will miss the French Open later this month after taking an indefinite break from tennis. The 25-year-old Russian withdrew from a match against Victoria Azarenka last month because of a back injury. She said: “I don’t know how long my time out is going to last. I don’t want to torture myself and my body anymore. ”I’m just tired of constant questions from my coach in training, ‘How is your back? Can you do this exercise?’.”

Safina added: ” I’m just tired of fighting with myself. At the moment I can’t do anything tennis-wise. When I can do certain moves without feeling lots of pain, then I would consider resuming my training. ”I’ll take as much time as I need.”

The right-hander became world number one in April 2009 and stayed there for 26 weeks before falling to 108th because of her back injury problems. But she has failed to win a singles Grand Slam title having lost out in three finals.

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