The women’s final preceded the men’s.  The men’s had been scheduled for around 4 PM in Rome.  The women started a little less than two hours earlier.

For a while, it appeared that the women’s match would finish routinely.  Li Na had won a close first set, 6-4.  She was comfortably up 4-0 with a chance to get to 5-0.  But, this is a women’s match, and the mental game plays as important a role as the physical.  That, and the fact that women clobber the ball every chance they get.  Rarely, do you get these up the middle rallies that male players engage as a kind of testing of the waters, before they go for bigger shots.  That’s because men can chase down all but the most well-struck of shots.  Women, by contrast, can hit a good solid angle shot and that is likely to be a winner.  Women don’t have the footspeed to chase it down, nor do they have the kind of violent topspin Rafa has to air out a shot without being defensive.

Sharapova would take the next six games in a row.  Li Na, not noted for her strong mental toughness, continued to wilt in the third set, down a break, 4-1, before she was able to tie the match at 4-all.  Throughout the second and third set, helicopters were flying, more interested in the nearby football matches, the rain was falling, first a drizzle, then something heavier.  Scores went to 5-all.  At one point, the score had reached deuce and baritone voiced, Kader Nouni, had been told to suspend play.  He asked if it would be OK, but also said, if the two women wanted to play on, he would let them play on, which they did.

Maria Sharapova had taken one point and slammed it wide.  She found herself match point down, when she hit a hard crosscourt forehand which Li Na lobbed up.  Sharapova took a big swing and won the point, and eventually the game.  When the match reached 6-all,  the rains were heavy. and play was suspended for two hours.  Play resumed  around 6 PM.  Sharapova again took a lead in the tiebreak, but Li Na came back, and eventually, Sharapova won the match.

At this point, there was still a question whether the men’s final would play.  Despite the women’s final having been played, it was a tiebreak, only needed a few minutes to complete.  The men’s match could go to marathon lengths.  After all, Nadal and Ferrer played a 90 minute set in the semifinals.

Also, the match would be played at night and potentially delayed and on wet courts.  Djokovic, at the very least, might have preferred the clay be less heavy with the rain.

The match is scheduled for noon, Rome time, and is the last event most of the top players will play prior to the French Open which will be played in a week’s time.