Impressive Maria Sharapova defeated Ana Ivanovic in the final of the 2008 Australian Open, or as some people called it a "glam slam" decider, referring to the glamor and beauty of the two young tennis stars. The trophy ceremony was very emotional for both Maria and Ana, and I'm sure for many fans all around the world.

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Russia’s Maria Sharapova won her third career Grand Slam title with a 7-5 6-3 victory over Serbia's Ana Ivanovic at the 2008 Australian Open.

Last year, Sharapova won only three games in the Australian Open final against Serena Williams, but this year she was simply unstoppable. During the whole tournament at Melbourne Park fifth-seeded Sharapova hasn't dropped a set, and I believe that in the final there was nothing Ivanovic could have done to win the match, if she had taken her chances, she could have only made it longer. Read more »

Unseeded Ukrainian sisters Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko won the Australian Open women’s doubles title beating 12th seeds Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Israeli Shahar Peer 2-6 6-1 6-4.

It was the first time the Bondarenko sisters had won a doubles title in their 38th tournament playing together. Alona Bondarenko believes that the key to success may be the fact that they stopped fighting on the court, and started listening to each other.

Their previous best was reaching three semifinals in WTA Tour events.

Reminder: In singles Alona was seeded 21st and lost to Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki in the second round, while unseeded Kateryna lost in the first round to France’s Aravane Rezai. (source: Reuters, photo via Yahoo)

The Australian Open website is not the only virtual place where you can get involved with the first Grand Slam of the year. If you can’t visit the Melbourne Park in real life, you can do it in Second Life, an Internet-based virtual world. Plus, there is a competition in this cyber world where you can even win some money, virtual money though.

You can test out your designing skills at IBM's competition. The person who designs the best virtual tennis outfit will win $250,000 Linden dollars, virtual currency used in Second Life. Of course, you can’t use this money in the real world, but with it you can buy plenty of things in the universe of Second Life.

The winner of IBM's competition will be announced on January 25. I'm looking forward to the results of the competition, I suppose there will be some inspiring, fresh, and futuristic designs. (source: Australian Open)

Fourth seed Ana Ivanovic reached her second career Grand Slam final after ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova let slip a 6-0 2-0 lead to eventually lose 0-6 6-3 6-4. Hantuchova was annoyed with Ivanovic’s behavior during the match and accused the Serb of intentionally distracting her in serving by squeaking with her feet.

Only after 45 minutes did Ivanovic take her first game, but then she settled and took the second set 6-3. The third set went with serve until 4-4 when three errors from the Slovak helped Ivanovic to break, and the Serb closed things out 6-4.

Hantuchova criticized Ivanovic of using tactics to distract her. As Hantuchova was preparing to serve Ivanovic was shuffling her feet which resulted in loud squeaking. Read more »