Maria Sharapova claimed her first title since April 2008 when Jelena Jankovic retired during the first set of their Toray Pan Pacific Open final.

The unseeded Russian, ranked 25th in the world, was leading 5-2 in the first set when the seventh-seeded Serb withdrew because of a right wrist injury.

The 2009 Toray Pan Pacific title is Sharapova’s first since her comeback from a shoulder injury in May. The Russian had been out for nine long months.

"To go from not knowing whether you'll ever play the sport again to holding a trophy, it's an unbelievable feeling," said the 22-year-old Grand Slam champion. (via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Seventh seed Jelena Jankovic and unseeded Maria Sharapova will play each other in the Toray Pan Pacific Open final.

In the semifinals, Serbia’s Jankovic benefited from Li Na’s 40 errors to defeat the Chinese No.15 seed 6-4 6-3, and for the second time in a row beat a player against whom she had a negative career record, having ended a losing streak against Marion Bartoli in the previous round.

Sharapova scored her fourth victory over Agnieszka Radwanska, overcoming the eleventh seed 6-3 2-6 6-4. The Russian rallied from 0-2 in the third set to prevail.

Jankovic will be looking for her third title of the season (she won both her previous finals in 2009), while the 2005 Toray Pan Pacific Open champion Sharapova will try to end her title drought that extends back to April 2008.

Sharapova has a 4-1 head-to-head record against Jankovic, and 3-0 on hardcourts. (photo: Jean-Sebastien Marceau)

Dave Seminara wrote a great story about an astonishing historic rally between two women's tennis players, and I will share some facts from his article here on Women's Tennis Blog.

Vicki Nelson and Jean Hepner played the longest rally in the history of professional tennis, which included 643 shots and was played when Hepner had a set point in the second set tiebreak, which lasted 1 hour and 47 minutes on its own. Can you believe it?

After the 29-minute long rally Nelson went for a winner and won the point. She was also the winner of the match, after 6 hours and 31 minutes of play. Final score was 6-4 7-6(11). Not surprisingly, the marathon was the longest match in tennis history for nearly twenty years, and is still the longest match completed on a single day.

When the rally was over, Nelson collapsed with cramps in her legs. Bizarrely, the chair umpire called a time-violation warning, but Nelson collected herself and continued the match.

You must be wondering how in the world that rally lasted so long. Nelson explains: "We were both pretty much standing on the baseline lobbing."

And imagine this: Had Hepner won the rally, the match would have been taken to the third set, and I don't want to even imagine where that would have led.

The match was played on September 24, 1984, in the first round of the $50,000 Virginia Slims-sponsored Ginny tournament at the Raintree Swim and Racquet Club in Richmond. Nelson and Hepner were ranked No. 93 and No. 172 in the world.

Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Maria Sharapova of Russia remain on course to face each other in the final of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.

The seventh-seeded Jankovic, the highest-ranked player left in the draw, ended a losing streak against No.14 seed Marion Bartoli of France, defeating her 6-4 6-3 to reach the semifinals. Bartoli had beaten Jankovic in their last four meetings, twice in 2007 and twice this year.

The Serb’s next opponent will be No.15 seed Li Na of China, who won a tight match against Belorussian Victoria Azarenka, seeded eighth, 7-6(7) 4-6 7-6(4).

Maria Sharapova rallied from a set down in both sets against Czech Iveta Benesova, to win 6-4 7-5 and advance to the last four. Next up for Sharapova will be No.11 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who rounded out the semis with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Magdalena Rybarikova. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)