MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – Victoria Azarenka sankto her knees in disbelieving triumph after winning her first grand slam singles title with a one-sided victory over Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open final yesterday.
The 22-year-old simply bullied Sharapova into submission in a 6-3 6-0 victory lasting 82 minutes.
Her dominance in Melbourne will be reflected in the world rankings tomorrow when she takes top spot from Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki.
The final had been billed as a battle of ear-splitting screamers but Sharapova went out with barely a whimper, unable to find a way through Azarenka’s blue-collar grunt work.
After the Russian dumped yet another backhand into the net to surrender the match, Azarenka fell to her knees, turned to the crowd and asked: “What happened? I don’t know what’s going on.”
Reality sinking in, she climbed up to the player’s box to give her coach Sam Sumyk a hug.
“This is your time,” he told her.
Azarenka had been given a rough ride by the Melbourne Park crowds throughout the tournament due to her grunting, but they warmed to her quickly.
Sashaying up to the podium, she beamed as she accepted the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup from former winner Martina Hingis.
“I’ve had an amazing month in Australia and it’s a dream come true,” she told fans at Rod Laver Arena, thanking everyone from her coach to the cleaners.