HEAD racquet rebels update
May 17, 2015
Rome/Italy — HEAD’s Racquet Rebels swept the men’s and women’s titles at the Rome Masters, with Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova showing their Grand Slam champion pedigrees by earning multiple career trophies at the Fore Italico.
Djokovic dominated to beat Roger Federer 6-4, 6-3 in 75 minutes and claims his fourth career title at the venue. The No. 1, who endorses the HEAD Graphene XT Speed, now owns 24 Masters Titles. The Racquet Rebel added a fifth trophy to his 2015 collection and has now won four of the five elite Masters 1000 events played so far – the fifth was won by HEAD’s Andy Murray in Madrid last week. “If I can repeat what I did in 2011 (win streak from January to Paris) it would be great. But there are things out of your control, you can only influence the present moment. Hopefully this thinking will take me far in Roland Garros which is the main priority of my career now,” Djokovic said.
It was the second triumph in a final this season for the Serb after defeating No. 2 Federer at Indian Wells in March. Djokovic broke late in the opening set and early in the second to seal his 19th victory against 20 losses to the Swiss. “I had a great week,” said the winner. “And I played my best match today when it counted the most. No matter what the score, it’s always tough playing Roger.”
Sharapova, who endorses the HEAD Graphene XT Instinct, now owns three Rome crowns after beating Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro in a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 comeback victory. The win, in just over two and a half hours, will move Sharapova back to #2 in the WTA rankings as the defense of her French Open title approaches in a week at Roland Garros.
Sharapova, who lifted the trophy at the Foro Italico in 2011 and defended it in 2012, becomes the seventh woman to win the event at least three times. The success marked her second title of the season after Brisbane which began the season in January. “I’ve made a lot of clay progress this season, it was not an overnight success; it took a lot of physical and mental work. It makes me happy that I’ve improved so much,” said Sharapova.