Belarussian Victoria Azarenka won the biggest match of her career so far by winning the 2012 Australian Open Women’s Singles title on Saturday, beating former champion Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-0. Azarenka played her first Grand Slam final and won. With the win, she also become the new world number one.
“First I want to congratulate Maria. Thank you for such kind words. You had a great two weeks and did really well, and I’m sure there will be many more finals we’ll perform in,” Azarenka said. “I want to thank my team – you guys have been supporting me for so long, believing in me and making me realize I can believe in myself and can finally raise this trophy. I want to thank my parents, my friends, my boyfriend and my grandmother – the person who inspires me most in my life,” Azarenka said during her speech at the presentation of the trophy.
“It was an amazing month in Australia. It’s a dream come true,” she added.
Azarenka became the first Belarussian to win a Grand Slam title and to also become world number one. The previous best result came from Natasha Zvereva (who reached the 1988 French Open Final and reached a career high number five).
Despite the loss, Sharapova is happy with her performance in Melbourne.
“This was a tough loss today, but there’s no doubt I’ll be back and performing in front of you guys again. Melbourne has been my home away from home over the last month, and I couldn’t have asked for a better home than here,” she said.
