Melbourne: Victoria Azarenka of Belarus Saturday won her first Grand Slam, defeating Russian Maria Sharapova in straight sets in the Australian Open final here.
The 6-3, 6-0 victory for Azarenka takes her to the No.1 spot in the WTA rankings replacing Dane Caroline Wozniacki, who lost to Belgian Kim Clijsters in the quarter-finals.
“I can’t wait to be back next year, I’ve had an amazing month in Australia. It’s a dream true,” said Azarenka.
Some determined running around the court by Azarenka forced Sharapova into hitting 29 errors.
The Russian was quickly off the blocks, breaking Azarenka’s serve in the first game of the match. However, as the Belarusian settled her nerves of playing in her first major final, she started to dominate the Russian.
Azarenka din’t give an inch as she covered the court amazingly, making Sharapova look for the lines, and with some powerful ground strokes the No.3 seed took just an hour and quarter to dispose of her opponent.
The 2009 champion here was completely outclassed as the new World No.1 smashed 12 winners to make the final a one-sided affair.
“As in any sport you have your good days you have your tough days and you have days where things just don’t work out. Today Victoria was just too good,” Sharapova said.
“It all comes down to the last two athletes, winner takes it all after all the players in the draw. I’ve had great wins here and I’ve had tough losses but there’s no doubt I’ll be back.”
Before this match, the two had met six times and it was a dead heat with three wins apiece. Azarenka takes her winning streak to 12 matches, including the Sydney International title ahead of the Australian Open.
Sharapova has now been runner-up at two of the last three grand slams, after losing last year’s Wimbledon decider to Petra Kvitova. (Agencies)