Maria Sharapova has won her first Australian Open women’s singles title, beating Ana Ivanovic 7-5, 6-3 in the final.
Ivanovic melted under the combination of occasional nerves, the Melbourne heat and Sharapova’s intense pressure.
Games went on serve in the first four games under the Melbourne sun, the hottest day of the tournament, before the Russian stepped up the tempo. With deep, powerful groundstrokes, Sharapova forced the Serbian into error, breaking serve.
Such was the dominance of the Sharapova serve, Ivanovic didn’t win a point when receiving until Sharapova’s fourth service game. Once she did, the world number three took advantage of a now nervous Sharapova, who double faulted twice on the way to handing her break back.
Ivanovic then got a fit of the wobbles, taking unnecessary risks with low-percentage shots. The Russian regained her composure to hold serve in the tenth game, before breaking again.
Two-time slam champion Sharapova served out the set to love to close out the first set in 47 minutes.
The pivotal game of the second set was the seventh, on the Serbian’s serve. Ivanovic let her guard down temporarily, the Russian pouncing to break.
Sharapova smelled blood, racing through her next service game to 15. Ivanovic started the next game with a double fault and an unforced error. A ripping forehand from the Russian set up three match points. Sharapova made errors on the first two, before Ivanovic sent a forehand sailing wide.
The Russian fifth seed slumped to her knees, receiving polite, if not muted applause from the Rod Laver Arena crowd.
Sharapova has now won three of the four grand slams, the French Open the missing link. Ivanovic is 0-2 in grand slam deciders, failing to win a set in either.
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