Eight seed, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus overwhelmed Russian fifth seed,
Maria Sharapova 6–4, 6-1 in Sunday’s 2010 WTA Tour Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California, USA.
A day after her 21st birthday, Azarenka broke the Russian three times in the first set then took advantage of Sharapova’s 16 unforced errors in the second set while committing only one to win the hardcourt event.
“I haven’t lost a match yet since I turned 21,” Azarenka said. “It’s great. I can have cake now.”
Azarenka, who will jump to 12th in the world rankings, improved to 19-5 this season on hardcourts, the surface where she has won her four career WTA titles and where she will play at the U.S. Open later this month.
Sharapova, who had won 17 of 20 prior matches, missed a chance to claim her third title of the year. She will improve to 13th in the rankings as she showed her best form since returning from a shoulder injury in May of 2009.
Azarenka, who earned $107,000 for her win, beat Sharapova for the first time in three years and the first time on hard court. They have split four career meetings.
