After eight straight holds to start the match, Sharapova blinked in her 4-all service game, double faulting to hand over the break, and Serena pounced, storming out to 40-0 in her 5-4 service game, closing it out two points later.
Serena was actually up a set and a break at one point, 6-4, 2-1, before the abdominal injury she had been struggling with that day began bothering her more and more, and this time it was Sharapova who pounced, reeling off the next five games in a row to run away with a 6-2 second set.
Unable to serve with her usual power, Serena began making up for it by ripping her groundstrokes as hard as she could, and she went up 4-0 in the third. But there was one last plot twist to come, as Sharapova upped the aggression too, winning the last six games in a row to complete a streaky 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory.
Sharapova ripped a forehand return winner down the line on match point off a 64-mile-per-hour first serve from an ailing Serena.