INDIAN WELLS, CALIF.—We’ve been asking for order to be restored on the women’s side for so long that it’s hard to remember that there ever was an order to begin with. In recent years, Slam-less No. 1s have rotated at the top, while first-time major-title winners have popped up and vanished just as quickly. Unruliness seemed destined to reign forever.
But here we are in the third month of 2012 and we’re about to get our second-straight big-event final between Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova, who are currently ranked No. 1 and 2 in the world. It’s the first meeting, believe it or not, between the WTA computer’s top two players since January 2008, when Justine Henin beat Svetlana Kuznetsova in Sydney.
The last match between Vika and Maria was so recent, six weeks ago in Melbourne, that Azarenka's stunningly easy 6-3, 6-0 win there still rings in the ears. In that one, Azarenka was dominant in the first set, and when Sharapova tried to answer in the second, she misfired badly. We shouldn’t expect anything so similarly one-sided on Sunday in Indian Wells, should we? A champion of Sharapova’s caliber wouldn’t let herself be embarrassed like that twice in a row, would she?
In truth, a repeat isn’t all that far-fetched. In the seven matches they’ve played, Azarenka has won four. More crucially, she has won their last three on hard courts, and the two before Australia were almost as one-sided as Melbourne—Vika won 6-4, 6-1 in Stanford in 2010, and 6-1, 6-4 in the Key Biscayne final last April. It was the latter match that sent Azarenka off on the winning roll that she’s still on today.
In Australia, Azarenka beat Sharapova thoroughly, in every way you can. She jumped on her serve, she counterpunched from the baseline, she moved her back and forth along the baseline, and even tormented her with drop shots and lobs. “She was the one dictating from the baseline,” Sharapova said afterward, “and I was the one running like a rabbit.”
Is there hope for the rabbit to win the race this time? Both Sharapova and Azarenka have, for the most part, dominated this week, but both were also forced to make one escape—Vika against Mona Barthel in her opener; Maria against Maria Kirilenko in the quarters. On Friday night, Azarenka was work-woman-like, rather than inspired, in dispatching Angelique Kerber in the semifinals, 6-4, 6-3. Sharapova began her semi with Ana Ivanovic at less than 100 percent physically, according to her coach, Thomas Hogstedt, but she warmed to the diva battle quickly. By the end of a well-played first set, Sharapova was cracking the ball. Her serve, both first and second, held firm when she needed it.
