Shanghai saw the Nadal train derailed when Roger Federer won another final against the top seed - the third this year. (He also won a fourth match against Rafa in the round of sixteen in Indian Wells).
The straight sets victory was a surprise to most and gave Federer his second Shanghai trophy.
I have to feel sorry for both finalists in Hong Kong. The weather was horrible and delayed the start of the match for about five hours for Dasha Gavrilova (7) and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (6).
Further delays meant that the match, which lasted over three hours anyway, finished well past midnight.
Gavrilova fought hard to win the first set, after being down a break, but it was Pavlyuchenkova who controlled the rest of the match. The deciding set was 2-2 with no break, but the next eight games were all service breaks, Pavlyuchenkova failing to serve out the match on two occasions.
In the tie break Gavrilova led 3-1, but the Russian reeled off six straight points to take the set and the title.
Maria Sharapova was granted a wildcard in Tianjin, and would normally have faced top seed Caroline Garcia in the first round. However, the French player’s late withdrawal meant that Maria would play ninth seed Irina-Camelia Begu.
Sharapova won this battle and all others until the semi final, where she knocked over third seed Shuai Peng.
49 games to 22 was the domination into the final where Sharapova found things more difficult against unseeded Aryna Sabalenka, but still won 7-5. 7-6 (8).
First title since returning to the tour.
Barbora Strycova (2) triumphed in Linz, defeating top seed Magdalena Rybarikova in two decisive sets.
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