Azarenka Claims WTA Top Spot With Australian Open Title Win
Victoria Azarenka from Belarus defeated Russia’ Maria Sharapova in the 2012 Australian Open Women’s singles finals in just one-hour, 22-min. Azarenka swept the three-time Grand Slam winner, 6-3, 6-0, and won 12 out of 13 games in a row to quickly capture her first Grand Slam win against the former number one-ranked Sharapova, and in the process, claim the top spot atop the WTA rankings
"It’s a dream come true," said Azarenka. "I have been dreaming and working so hard to win the Grand Slam, and being number one is a pretty good bonus. Just the perfect ending and the perfect position to be in."
Azarenka has won the last 11 straight matches, including her run to win the Sydney International title, and reached the finals in Melbourne of the first Grand Slam event of 2012. The closest she has come to a title in the past was a semifinal loss to Petra Kvitova at last year’s Wimbledon in June. Azarenka is the first women’s player to move from third to first after her first major’s title win.
“She did everything better than I did today. I had a good first couple of games, and that was about it,” Sharapova said. “Then she was the one that was taking the first ball and hitting it deep and aggressive. I was always the one running around like a rabbit, you know, trying to play catch-up all the time.”
Sharapova took the first two games pretty quickly, but that soon would change, and there would be only one more game won by Sharapova in the entire tournament. Sharapova leveled the game 3-3 and would not win another game in that set or the final set.
“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,” said Sharapova.
Azarenka moves into 2012 after having her best season in 2011, winning 55 of 72 matches to finish the year ranked third in the WTA rankings.
