In her third final of the year she won her first title, beating Sharapova, 6-4, 6-1, on Sunday, August 1, 2010, at the Bank of the West Classic, a WTA Premiere event.
Azarenka, who improved to 4-6 in career finals, turned 21 on Saturday and said she would wait until the tournament was completed before celebrating with some champagne. "I don't really like beer," she said.
She doesn't have much time to celebrate. She's on her way to compete at the San Diego event for a first round match against Melanie Oudin.
Azarenka has recorded 19 hard court wins, one of just four players on the tour to do so.
Azarenka left Minsk to live with the family of NHL star Nikolay Khabibulin, who was playing for the Phoenix Coyotes at the time. Improved training has led her to the top of the tennis world.
Dinara Safina Exits WTA Premier Event Early
Former world No. 1 Dinara Safina lost her first match of the tournament, dropping a 4-6, 7-6(0), 6-2 decision to Japan's Kimiko Date Krumm, the 39-year-old who returned to the WTA Tour last year following a 12-year absence.
Safina has been grappling with a back injury for most of the season. She was forced to retire from her fourth round match at the Australian Open and then did not play again until April, when she reached the quarterfinals at Stuttgart.
She lost her next five matches and withdrew from Wimbledon. She was granted a wild card for the Bank of the West Classic.
"I had so many chances but I didn't use them," Safina said. "It was my first match back from injury, so I am pretty positive and will keep working hard. My back feels fine and that is the most important thing for me."
Safina, currently ranked No. 35, ended last season at No. 2 after reaching the No. 1 mark in April of 2009.
Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Ranking History
Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic and Lindsay Davenport were other former No. 1 singles players who competed at Stanford. Davenport played doubles with Liezel Huber, who has been ranked first in doubles. Samantha Stosur, the top seeded singles player, has also been ranked No. 1 in doubles.
Ivanovic went out in the second round, losing to Marion Bartoli, 6-3, 6-4.
"I feel like I'm playing better than what my ranking is," said the 63rd-ranked Serbian who has eight career titles, including a Grand Slam event, to her credit. "I'm staying tough and I'm not feeling sorry for myself."
Ivanovic did end a three-match losing streak to Alisa Kleybanova, beating the 26th-ranked Russian, 6-3, 6-2, in the first round.
Women's Tennis Player on the Rise
New Jersey girl Christina McHale not only qualified for the main draw of the Bank of the West, but also won her first round match and gave top seed Samantha Stosur a good run in the second round before losing, 6-1, 7-5.
McHale, ranked 192 at the time, beat Victoria Azarenka, then ranked ninth, in the second round at Charleston earlier in the season. McHale was leading 6-2, 2-2 when Azarenka retired.
McHale, who turned 18 in May, also has win over then No. 81 Polona Hercog in the first round of last year's U.S. Open, and has also played in the French Open and Australian Open.
She's yet to win a singles title at any level but has a winning record and has been steadily moving up the rankings. She ended last year at No. 220. She's currently at No. 161.
Notes From Bank of the West Classic
An informal poll of the ball girls and ball boys resulted in Australia's Samantha Stosur being named "the nicest" player of the tournament. Stosur recorded 15 aces in her two matches, which led all players entering the final. She also led in service games won and break points saved.
The longest singles match of the tournament belonged to Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva, who needed 167 minutes to complete their quarterfinal match. Victoria Azarenka took care of Ayumi Morita in 54 minutes, the shortest singles match.
The quarterfinal doubles match between Yung-Jan Chan and Jie Zheng and Jill Craybas and Carly Gullickson lasted all of 36 minutes.
Rick Eymer - I have written for The San Mateo Times, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat and am currently working part-time as an assistant sports editor at ...
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