Azarenka beats Sharapova to win Indian Wells title

By Beth Harris

Associated Press

Published: Sunday, March 18 2012 1:55 p.m. MDT

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Maria Sharapova, of Russia, returns a shot to Victoria Azarenka, of Belarus, during the women's final at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament Sunday, March 18, 2012, in Indian Wells, Calif.

Darron Cummings, Associated Press

Summary

Victoria Azarenka routed Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-3 to win the BNP Paribas Open title on Sunday in the WTA Tour's first final between the No. 1 and No. 2 players since 2008.

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Victoria Azarenka routed Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-3 to win the BNP Paribas Open title on Sunday in the WTA Tour's first final between the No. 1 and No. 2 players since 2008.

Azarenka broke Sharapova six times in improving her record to 23-0 this year, the best start to a season since Martina Hingis went 37-0 to open 1997. The top-ranked Belarusian earned $1 million for her fourth title of the year.

It was a rematch of the Australian Open final, which Azarenka won 6-3, 6-0 in January to keep Sharapova from regaining the No. 1 ranking. This time, Sharapova was error-prone during the 1½-hour match on a cold, windy day in the desert. The second-ranked Russian kept hitting close to the lines and missing.

No. 3 Roger Federer was set to play American John Isner in the men's final later.

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