Maria Sharapova and Sébastien Bourdais

On Sunday the 22nd of October, Maria Sharapova won in Zurich her 4th WTA win this season and 14th overall, aged 19 only. She proudly exhibited her TAG Heuer F1 Diamonds Black dial when receiving the trophee. She's still #3 worldwide but closing the gap on Justine Henin-Hardenne with a chance to pass her next week in Linz, Austria. Congratulations Maria !

16.000 km away, in Australia, Sebastien Bourdais made history, winning for the 3rd year in a row the ChampCar worldwide championship after a breathtaking race where he secured enough points to be crowned before the last race in Mexico in 2 weeks. Only 1 driver made it 3 times consecutively before Sebastien, in the late 40's. Sebastien proudly wore his red TAG Heuer SportVision ophtalmic Panorama frames as well as his TAG Heuer chronograph at the Press Conference concluding the race and celebrating his 3rd title.

Both Maria and Sebastien share this talent combined with hard work and obsession to always push the limits mirroring TAG Heuer watchmakers values and commitment. They are true to TAG Heuer, true to their sports and true champions!

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Maria Sharapova makes history at Zurich Open

Maria Sharapova became the first Russian to win the Zurich Open, defeating Daniela Hantuchova 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 yesterday in the final. It was her first triumph in Zurich after she fell to Alicia Molik in the 2004 final, and brings her number of career titles to 14, including Wimbledon 2004 and the 2006 US Open.

Maria was the obvious favorite of the Sunday final in Zurich. Her ranking is much higher than the ranking of the Slovak player and she had beaten Hantuchova in four of their six head-to-head matches before the Sunday triumph.

The Russian world number three took control of the first set almost from the start, with some blistering returns unsettling the Slovak and earning her three break points for 1-0. Hantuchova held, but then gave up her next service game to love with a double-fault. Sharapova broke to love a second time to lead 4-1 when Hantuchova made a backhand error when under no real pressure. A forehand error then gave Maria Sharapova a third break and the set, but a more aggressive Hantuchova made a more positive start to the second set, breaking Maria to lead 1-0.

That was enough to take the match to a third set, although Hantuchova had to survive a break point when leading 4-3 and five more as she struggled to close out the set at 5-4. Maria Sharapova once more asserted herself in the final set, raising her aggression levels and the quality of her serving to end with 10 aces. The Russian held two break points to lead 2-0 and then broke to lead 3-1 when Hantuchova made a forehand error, and she went on to capture the title with an ace.

Maria Sharapova battles into quarters of Zurich open

Maria Sharapova has moved through to the quarter-finals of the Zurich Open with a 6-4 7-6 (7-4) victory over Israeli Shahar Peer.

Maria eased through the first set before a tireless Peer held a set point against the No.2 seed at 5-4. After saving the set point and getting it back to 5-all, Maria Sharapova won the second set tie-breaker and the match in just over two hours.