Today is a big day for women's tennis, as we have a new number one – Victoria Azarenka. The Belarusian dethroned Caroline Wozniacki from the top position by winning her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open over the weekend. Let's see the numbers behind Azarenka's 6-3 6-0 victory over Maria Sharapova in the Melbourne final. Thanks, Omair, for contributing another statistical analysis to Women's Tennis Blog.

When Maria Sharapova walked on the Centre Court at Wimbledom last year, she intended to complete her comeback from shoulder injury by winning the tournament that she had won back in 2004 at the age of 17. However, Petra Kvitova had other plans. Sharapova ended up losing the Wimbledon final and hence a chance to complete her comeback. In the Australian Open final, as Sharapova walked onto the Rod Laver Arena, she knew she had another chance to complete her comeback. Last year at Centre Court it was against young gun Kvitova, and this year at Rod Laver Arena it was against another youngster, Azarenka.

Read more »

Victoria Azarenka blew three-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova off the Rod Laver Arena 6-3 6-0 to win her maiden major, obtain the No.1 position in the WTA rankings, overtaking Caroline Wozniacki who's reigned the spot pretty much for two years, and become the first Belarusian Grand Slam titlists and No.1 player in singles.

Playing her first Grand Slam final, the third-seeded Azarenka started nervously by dropping serve in the first game of the match and finding herself 0-2 0-30 down. But from then on, she started playing aggressively, moving Sharapova around and neutralizing her power. From 3-3 in the first set, the match belonged only to Azarenka. 

If you look at the stats, Azarenka was drastically better than her fourth-seeded opponent in too many departments:

• Azarenka committed 12 unforced errors to Sharapova's 30
• Azarenka won 53% on second serve, compared to Sharapova's 18%
• Azarenka had 60% of receiving points won, while Sharapova won only 37%
• Azarenka converted 71% of break points, Sharapova only 25%
• Azarenka won 88% of net approaches, Sharapova more than twice less, 43%

Our lucrative and highly professional contributor, Omair, prepared an analysis of the last singles match in the women's draw at the Australian Open, the final between Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova. Enjoy the article and share your input in the comments!

Australian Open women's championship match will see two "ria's" facing each other, each trying to outgrunt the other. It will be one of the noisiest women's finals Australian Open has ever had, since both Maria and Victoria shriek loudly. My advice to the people intending to go and watch the match would be to take ear plugs with you or you might get your ears hurt. Ok enough of joking, let's see what we have in store for the final.

Seeing the form both players are taking into the final, it promises to be a great match. Both players have lost just two sets so far in the tournament, both losing one set in the quarterfinals and one in the semis. What is more interesting is that they both lost the same sets. Maria lost the first set in her quarterfinal against Sabine Lisicki, as did Azarenka against Radwanska. Maria lost the second set in her semifinal against Kvitova, as did Azarenka against Clijsters.

Both have not lost a match this year. Azarenka winning Sydney and carrying that momentum to the Australian Open, while Sharapova kick started her 2012 campaign at the Australian Open. Who will keep her winning streak intact in the final? Will it be Maria or Victoria? Read more »

Having reviewed the semifinal between Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova, our guest poster Omair is now moving on to the analysis of Victoria Azarenka's 6-4 1-6 6-3 win over Kim Clijsters to reach her first Grand Slam final.

Everyone had been criticizing the top players for their inconsistency and inability to dig deep through the tournament draws, but with the three of the top four seeds making it to the Australian Open final, along with Kim Clijsters, nobody can doubt the consistency of the top players now.

None of us could have asked for a better semifinal line-up, and the semifinals lived up to their expectations, both the matches producing some jaw-dropping tennis, intense rallies, seemingly impossible shots from players. There were momentum swings in both matches, but overall the quality of tennis was very high and they were worth watching.

Azarenka and Clijsters were the first to walk on to the Rod Laver Arena today to begin the battle for a spot in the championship match. Azarenka moved Clijsters all over the court testing her ankle in the first set, while taking the set 6-4. Clijsters could not find a way into Azarenka's game and by the end of the first set when she got into Azarenka's game it was too late since Azarenka took the set. Read more »

Semifinals are set at the Australian Open and the first one on schedule is Victoria Azarenka vs. Kim Clijsters. Our favorite stats analyst, Omair, was so grateful to provide us with his previews of both the semifinal encounters. Let's  start with the Azarenka vs. Clijsters one.

Azarenka comes into this match knowing that she is one of the two players who have beaten Clijsters twice since she came out of retirement, the other player being Vera Zvonareva, if I am not wrong. Azarenka comes into this match knowing that she won her last match against Clijsters, in straight sets. She comes into this match knowing that the top spot is up for grabs and she will have a huge chance if she stops Clijsters – after all there will be no better way to justify her top spot (if she attains it) than by beating Clijsters in the semis, and then either Maria Sharapova or Petra Kvitova in the finals.

Clijsters comes into this match knowing that this is the last Australian Open of her career, and she intends to go out in style which she showed in her match against Li Na and then against Caroline Wozniacki. Read more »