Maria Sharapova’s competitive frailties were exposed for all to see as the former world no1’s attempt to regain the spotlight in women’s tennis and reassume her role as the sport’s megastar were left sadly wanting as Victoria Azarenka powered to her second Sony Ericsson Open title in the space of three years.
Contesting her most high profile match since shoulder injuries and subsequent surgery interrupted her once glorious career, Sharapova was trounced 6-1 6-4 by eighth seeded Azarenka who previously had ousted world no2 Kim Clijsters and no3 Vera Zvonareva.
The Californian-based Russian only managed to hold her serve once throughout the one hour 46 minutes long contest on breezy Key Biscayne, set off the coast of Miami, and committed 43 unforced errors.
For a couple of games late in the second set it seemed as though Sharapova might stage something of a fight back but Belarus-born Azarenka held firm to clnch the $700,000 winner’s cheque.
Azarenka’s successes against the winner of the two most recently contested Grand Slam titles (Clijsters at the US and Australian Opens) and the runner up of Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows (Vera Zvonareva) suggested a determined approach and so Sharapova found out to her cost.
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Two of the most notorious shriekers in the women’s game set out to assault every eardrum in the 14,500 crowd from the outset and loosened their vocal chords in a nine-minute long opening game. Two Sharapova double faults and three unforced forehand errors acted as a portent for what was to follow and once again the player who was once so youthfully powerful and assured, now seemed racked by her own insecurities.
Competitive life has been tough for the multi- millionairess who collected the titles of Wimbledon, the US Open and the Australian Open before her 20th birthday. Try as she might to rebuild her game, or more pertinently her serve since the shoulder surgery she underwent in the autumn of 2008, matches like this serve to tell Sharapova how much work there is still to do if she is to recover her former position of eminence.
An inconsistent ball toss continuously hampered her in the notoriously gusty conditions and Azarenka, habitually solid from the back of the court, was perfectly acquitted to turn defence into attack when the occasion presented itself. After dropping her initial service game, the Belarussian went on to win nine games in succession and establish the sort of lead that only the most supreme optimist would view as a lost cause.
These days Sharapova doesn’t possess the self-belief to stage such a comeback and though she recovered after losing the initial set to beat 26th-seeded Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania in the quarter-final and 21st seed Andrea Petkovic of Germany in the semis, the quality and determination of opposition was of a much higher standard.
When she is on form there is a ruthless quality to Azarenka’s game but she was also blessed with more than her fair share of good fortune, successive snicks of net cords seeing the ball just trickle over the net on Sharapova's side, torturing her in the most morale-sapping way.
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Sensing she had no option but to go on the all-out attack, Sharapova conspired to win three games in a row after trailing four-love in the second set but it was only a temporary reversal. Azarenka reclaimed the upperhand to win her first final since prevailing in Moscow last October and now moves ahead of Australian Open runner up Li Na into sixth place on the WTA rankings.
Sharapova will return to the world’s top ten for the first time since the 2009 Australian Open but on this evidence there is still a long way for her to go before she reclaims the glittering crown of the sport’s princess.