Maria Sharapova triumphs in rain-hit Rome

Maria Sharapova saved a match point and defied a two-hour rain delay as she staged an extraordinary comeback to claim the Rome Masters tennis title with a 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7/5) win over China’s reigning French Open champion Li Na.

The bad weather forced the postponement of the men’s final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, which will now be played at 11am today. Eighth-seed Li looked well on course for her first tour title since last year’s historic win at Roland Garros as she led 6-4 4-0, and, despite a Sharapova revival, fashioned a match point on the Russian’s serve at 6-5.

But Sharapova fought her way back to force a tie-break – only for the rain to force the postponement of the match for two hours before the Russian just managed to complete the job.

Both players had their serve broken six times in a match that was one of the finest seen on the circuit so far this season.

Sharapova said it would give her confidence heading into Roland Garros. She told wtatour.com: “This is a great win for me. I will have time to recover both mentally and physically.”