Victoria Azarenka has achieved Australian Open glory with an emphatic win over Maria Sharapova in Saturday’s finalYou can watch and bet on the action from the Australian Open live for free at bet365 > live tennisFollowing a superb performance, Victoria Azarenka has clinched her first ever slam title with a victory over Maria Sharapova in Melbourne. The Belarusian will now replace Caroline Wozniacki as the world No. 1, and her future in the game looks to be remarkably bright right now.
Azarenka, or Vika as she is known by many, had gone down 2-0 in the opening set, and looked out of sorts in the early exchanges. Doubts about her ability to compete on such a big stage began to creep in as she made some wild errors.
Sharapova had been cruising, but Azarenka turned the match on its head, bludgeoning her way into the contest with some venomous groundstrokes. The 22 year-old quickly got back on level terms, and went on to take the set 6-3.
This set a precedent for the rest of the match. It was Sharapova who appeared to be out of kilter, fluffing her lines on several occasions. The Russian wasn’t playing to her usual standards, but this was perhaps because Azarenka simply wasn’t allowing her to.
Azarenka pressed on, racing away to a 5-0 lead in the second set. Serving for the slam, she faced a break point. After surviving it, Azarenka refocused and got to match point. Following a Sharapova backhand into the net, Azarenka lay down in celebration, having achieved to most noteworthy feat of her career to date.
