Victoria Azarenka vs Maria Sharapova: Australian Open women’s final live scores, blog

 
Alan Nicolea Roar Guru

By , 28 Jan 2012 Alan Nicolea is a Roar Guru

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Live Scores

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2012 Australian Open Live Scores

Women's Singles, Final

Melbourne

V. Azarenka won in 2 sets

  
 
Finished s1 s2
Victoria Azarenka,BLR (3) 6 6
Maria Sharapova,RUS (4) 3 0


In what should be an intriguing (and noisy) final, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka clash for the 2012 Australian Open women’s championship. Join us for live scores and blog from 7:30pm AEDT.

Besides the lure of playing for a Grand Slam title, Sharapova and Azarenka also possess the opportunity to become the WTA tour’s new world No.1 if they win tonight’s final.

With so much on the line here, expect an even contest between two players who will look to overpower one another with their heavy groundstrokes.

Both Sharapova and Azarenka are capable of hitting clean winners from the baseline, particularly from the backhand side.

Pound for pound however, Azarenka gets more power from her backhand shot than Sharapova. The world No.3 used her backhand to devastating effect against Kim Clijsters in the semi-final, despite the Belgian’s great court coverage.

Azarenka also possesses the better serve, given that Sharapova is no stranger when it comes to producing double faults on numerous occasions.

With three Grand Slam titles under her belt however, Sharapova knows how to win a major championship, and will call upon all her experience to unsettle an opponent who is making her first appearance in a Grand Slam final.

Prediction:

The first set of this match will be crucial in determining the outcome of tonight’s final. Azarenka and Sharapova have met six times thus far and share a 3-3 head to head record.

In their matches against each other, Sharapova and Azarenka have proven to be great frontrunners, with neither of them tasting defeat when they have won the opening set.

With this in mind, both players will be desperate to start well so expect Azarenka and Sharapova to go toe to toe early with some heavy groundstrokes.

If the first set does get tight, it will be interesting to see which player will be the first to crack under pressure, given that both have a history of losing form when the going gets tough.

When under the pump, Sharapova’s serve is the shot that suffers the most. The Russian does have a tendency to hit the net with her serve, which in turn forces her to produce lukewarm second serves.

Given that Azarenka is an aggressive returner, Sharapova may just have to go for more power on her serves than usual, which may lead to a few double faults from the Russian.

Azarenka however is not free from mental instability herself, although she has taken immense strides to improving her attitude in matches.

The Belarusian’s intense style of play can get the better of her on occasions when things do not go as planned.

Against Clijsters however, Azarenka still remained positive when placed under pressure and was able to outlast the Belgian in three sets in what was a very competitive contest.

Such a win against a legend of the women’s game will have given Azarenka the world of confidence as she heads to her maiden final.

One feels that if Azarenka is able to replicate her semi-final form, then she may just have the game to outplay Sharapova tonight and register her maiden Australian Open title, and with it, the No.1 ranking.

Azarenka in three sets.

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