Australian Open: Sharapova storms to title win

27.01.2008

Maria Sharapova of Russia waves to the crowd as
she poses with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup
on a boat along the Yarra River after her victory in
the women’s final match of the 2008 Australian
Open against Ana Ivanovic of Serbia on Saturday
in Melbourne, Australia. Getty Images

Fifth seed Maria Sharapova powered
past Ana Ivanovic 7-5, 6-3 in just 91 minutes to win her first Australian Open title. Sharapova, who adds the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy to the titles she won at Wimbledon in 2004 and the US Open in 2006, overwhelmed fourth-seeded Ivanovic from the start to avenge her crushing defeat to Serena Williams in last year’s final.

Ivanovic, frozen by nerves in her first Grand Slam final at the French Open last year, made a solid start to the match but always looked on the back foot, regularly having to recover from dropping the opening points in her service games.

In fact, the serve was the key to the match as Sharapova won a huge 89 percent of points behind her first serve and even managed five love service games. The 20-year-old Russian snatched her first break in the fifth game of the first set, beating Ivanovic for pace and forcing the Serb to put up a looping, defensive backhand that sailed long of the baseline.

Sharapova quickly undid all her good work by throwing in a poor game on serve, including an uncharacteristic three double faults, allowing Ivanovic to break back and get herself to within one game of the set.

But, despite getting herself to within two points of taking the first set, an ill-advised attempted drop shot from Ivanovic changed the momentum of the game and Sharapova broke back in the 11th game before serving out the set to love.

The second set followed the pattern set by the first as Sharapova cruised through her service games while forcing Ivanovic to battle through hers. The set went with serve until Sharapova finally broke in the seventh game when Ivanovic slapped down a double fault.

The Russian raced through her service hold before setting up three match points as Ivanovic failed to cope with the pressure. The first two title points went begging as Sharapova hit first long and then wide.