WHEN VICTORIA AZARENKA and Maria Sharapova met in the Australian Open final, all the pre-match speculation focused on the noise that would be generated by the loudest grunters in women’s tennis. Now the noise is all about a potential piece of history in the making.
In the BNP Paribas Open women’s final at California’s Indian Wells, world No 1 Azarenka will bid to extend her unbeaten run in 2012 and register a 23rd straight victory, against the opponent she annihilated to win her first Grand Slam title in Melbourne.
The contest will see 22-year-old Azarenka contest the final of a sixth successive tournament, and such consistent form makes her start to the year the best by a woman in 15 years. Only Martina Hingis, in 1997, has achieved a better run, with 37 consecutive wins.
Even the dominant might of Serena Williams, at her peak during the early months of 2003 when she registered 21 straight wins, has been superseded by Azarenka’s achievement. Sharapova, humbled 6-3 6-0 in the Australian Open final, appreciates the momentum is against her.
“I would love to get my revenge,” said Sharapova, hiding any embarrassment about a match that saw her lose 12 of the last 13 games in a one-sided final that again prompted questions to be asked on the legitimacy of equal prize money at Grand Slams.
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Rafael Nadal laboured five hours and 53 minutes in his five-set Australian Open final classic with Novak Djokovic, but a day earlier Sharapova was rewarded with the same sized cheque after delaying Azarenka’s victory celebrations for just one hour and 12 minutes.
“She [Azarenka] is definitely the one to beat right now, someone who is playing with a lot of confidence and all the momentum in the world,” says Sharapova of her opponent. The 24-year-old Russian won this tournament in California’s Coachella Valley six years ago when Azarenka had just joined the full WTA circuit after being declared world junior champion in 2005. They have met seven times, with all but one of their past four encounters going the way of Azarenka, and that when an injured elbow in Rome last June forced her to quit.
The ill fortune of an opponent again helped Sharapova to reach this final. A resurgent Ana Ivanovic has been showing the style of tennis that took her to the 2008 French Open title and subsequently the world No 1 ranking. However, an injured left hip left the Serb unable to continue early in the second set.
Azarenka was forced to work much harder as she collected her third German scalp of the event, beating the impressive world No 19 Angelique Kerber 6-4 6-3. Her previous best performance at Indian Wells saw her lose to Vera Zvonareva in the 2009 semi-final and last year she was again forced to retire against close friend Caroline Wozniacki in the quarter-final because of an injured hamstring.
Much has changed for Azarenka since that painful afternoon 12 months ago and this year alone she has already pocketed $2,921,950 (£1.84m) from winning the titles in Sydney and Doha as well as the Australian Open. The winner in Indian Wells today will walk away with an additional $1m (£630,000).