Azarenka lives her dream with Australian Open title, top ranking

Jan 28, 2012, 12:41 GMT

Melbourne - Victoria Azarenka's tennis dream became sweet reality as the Belarus third seed claimed the world number one title with her 6-3, 6-0 thrashing of Maria Sharapova on Saturday to win the Australian Open.

'It's a dream come true,' said the 22-year-old who has now stopped three-time Grand Slam winner Sharapova in all three finals that they have played. 'I've been dreaming and working so hard to win a Grand Slam.

'Being number one is a pretty good bonus.'

Azarenka won her first Slam out of the box as she played her first final at that level, replacing Caroline Wozniacki who drops to fourth on the WTA list.

'This is just the perfect ending and the perfect position to be in,' she said.

While she may have appeared calm in her defeat of her Russian opponent in less than 90 minutes, Azarenka said she was feeling every emotion.

'I didn't think of going to the match that I had to play perfect. I just had to play better than my opponent,' she said. 'The first two games (she was broken to start the match) were a bit of a disaster, but then I kinda got the momentum going.

'I relaxed and I start to be focusing on the moment on each point, trying to do whatever it takes to win that point. I'm surprised and not surprised.

'I worked really hard and I have been playing pretty well. It was a lot of tough battles in the first set. I just really played well at the important moments.

'I was super nervous, I couldn't wait to actually go on the court and play. I really handled well the situation after that little slack in the beginning.'

Sharapova, a three-time Grand Slam champion, now stands 3-3 in major finals after losing at Wimbledon last summer to Petra Kvitova and going down to Azarenka at Melbourne Park.

But the Russian 24-year-old who won Wimbledon at 17 and has battled a shoulder injury for the past three seasons after surgery, can look at the positives after her first event of 2012 following an ankle scare in late 2011.

'Obviously to get to the final is a good achievement, but to end up being the one that loses is always tough, no matter what sport you're in,' she said.

'But I'm proud of the fact that I made it this far. It's been a few years since I've been, you know, in the finals of the Australian Open. 'It's a good start to the year for me. I have a lot to look forward to this year.'