Cincinnati Women's Final Preview

CINCINNATI--Despite several upsets throughout the week, the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open ends with a marquee final Sunday, as #4 Kim Clijsters takes on #10 Maria Sharapova in a battle of former #1s and multiple grand slam winners.

Clijsters leads the head-to-head between the two 4-3, but Sharapova has won their last three meetings (the last of which was in 2007).

The two have had similar paths to the final.  In her first match in Cincinnati, each faced a struggling Russian who played in the 2009 French Open final (Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova).  In the quarterfinals, each played a former top ten player who won a US Open Series title in California last year (Flavia Pennetta and Marion Bartoli).

But their semifinals were dramatically different.  Playing in the earlier afternoon semifinal, Clijsters caught a break when her opponent, Ana Ivanovic, heard a crack in her left foot and could not continue through the pain only three games into the match.  Sharapova, who played the night semifinal, had to slog through a grueling 2.5 hour match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, a draining encounter that included wild momentum swings and a stoppage in play for 15 minutes when the stadium's lights went out. 

That disparity in Saturday preparation should favor Clijsters, theoretically.  She should be considerably fresher, a factor that will be especially important if heat is an issue on Sunday afternoon. 

But Sharapova is the battle tested one.  She has been able to play good tennis against good opponents several times this week, while Clijsters' best stuff was really only on display in her third round match against Christina McHale.

This one should be a grueling brawl of a match, and when it comes to a real battle of wills, I'll take Sharapova almost every time.

Prediction: Sharapova in 3.