Victoria Azarenka (1)

Country of Birth: Belarus
Age: 22
Highest Rank: 1
Current Rank: 1
Titles Won: 12 Singles and 6 Doubles
Career Prize Money: $14,017,500 (15th Best of All Time)




*Updated before Olympics*

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Through to the Aussie Open Final against Maria Sharapova. Winner will be the new number 1 in the World.

Her first Grandslam, 2.3million dollars and the new Number 1 all in 1 day. Not a bad days work.

MELBOURNE, Australia - Playing in her first Grand Slam final and with the No.1 ranking on the line, Victoria Azarenka stepped up in a big way, recording a runaway 63 60 win over Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open final.

With the winner of the final guaranteed to rise to No.1 next week, her first Grand Slam title wasn't the only thing Azarenka was playing for. And it seemed like maybe it was on her mind as she had a slow start, losing the first two games then falling behind 0-30 in the third - but she came alive from there, holding and then breaking back, then from 3-all going on an absolute tear, winning the next nine games in a row to polish off the one-hour, 22-minute victory.

Azarenka was by far the more solid of the two Saturday night - while they both had 14 winners, Azarenka had just 12 unforced errors to a whopping 30 from Sharapova, including a backhand into the net on Azarenka's first match point.

Sharapova took the podium first: "First congratulations go to Victoria. It was an honor to play against you. You have worked so hard for this over the years and earned this title," she said. "As in any sport, you have your good days and your tough days. Today things didn't work out for me. Victoria was just too good.

"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."

A jubilant Azarenka followed with her champion's speech. "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.

"It was an amazing month in Australia. It's a dream come true."

Azarenka is the first Belarusian to win a Grand Slam title and to rise to No.1 - her country's previous best results came from Natasha Zvereva, who reached one Grand Slam final (the 1988 French Open final) and made it up to No.5.

"Congratulations to Victoria on reaching the pinnacle of her career and becoming the WTA's newest World No.1," said Stacey Allaster, Chairman & CEO of the WTA. "It has been great to watch Vika grow as a player over the last few years and I'm thrilled she has achieved this milestone at such a young age."

It is worth noting that Zvereva was No.1 in doubles for 124 weeks and won 18 Grand Slam women's doubles and two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles.

Sharapova is now 3-3 in her career in Grand Slam finals, winning titles at Wimbledon in 2004, the US Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. She will rise from No.4 to No.3 on the new rankings; Petra Kvitova will stay at No.2, while Caroline Wozniacki will fall from No.1 to No.4.

Azarenka Pulls Out With Injury, and the U.S. Takes Advantage

Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, the newly minted No. 1 player in the world, withdrew from what was to be her first match since winning the Australian Open, pulling out of the opening Fed Cup singles match Saturday against the United States because of a lower-back injury.

Azarenka, who blitzed Maria Sharapova, 6-3, 6-0, to win her first Grand Slam championship, has not lost a match in 2012, compiling a 12-0 record en route to titles in Sydney and Melbourne.

Christina McHale took advantage of Azarenka’s absence to post a 6-0, 6-4 win over Anastasiya Yakimova, who was called upon Saturday morning to play. Then Serena Williams put the Americans one win from advancing in the best-of-five series in World Group II by defeating Olga Govortsova, 7-5, 6-0.

Victoria through to the 3R of Doha after defeating Mona Barthel from Germany in exactly an hour. Her next opponent will be Simona Halep from Romania.

Her 2012 winning streak of 12 increases to 13 (5 in Sydney, 7 in Aus Open and 1 in Doha)

Victoria had received a bye to second round being a Top 8 seed.

The winning streak continues to 14. Victoria through to the QFs of Doha.

Winning streak increases to 15 as Vika makes the semifinals of Doha. This is her best result in Doha. She will face Aga or Christina McHale for a place in the final.