Return Winners: The 2012 WTA Miami Open final

Agnieszka Radwanska faced Maria Sharapova for the championship in Miami.

Were it not for Victoria Azarenka, Agnieszka Radwanska could have had a near-perfect start to her 2012 campaign: In three straight tournaments to start off the year, she met defeat at the hands of the Belarussian. After winning the title in Dubai and reaching the quarterfinals in Kuala Lumpur, Radwanska and Azarenka met in the final eight in Indian Wells, Calif., with Azarenka coming out on top again.

Still, that run there brought Radwanska to a career-high No. 4 in the world. At her next tournament, the Miami Open, she advanced to her second final of the year. In two of her first three matches, she defeated teenagers marked for bigger things at a young age: Madison Keys and Garbine Muguruza, without the loss of a set. Her dominant run continued in the quarterfinals and semis, as she topped the veterans Venus Williams and Marion Bartoli, also in straight sets.

In the championship match, she’d face the prior year’s runner-up, Maria Sharapova. The Russian lived up to her number-two seeding, reaching the final with wins against qualifier Sloane Stephens, Li Na and Caroline Wozniacki along the way.

Long considered one of the more talented shot-makers on tour, Radwanska’s ability to keep an opponent off-balance had little effect against Sharapova in their prior matches as she’d lost seven of their eight encounters. In the first set, the two stayed on even ground through the first 10 games. With Sharapova serving for a 6-5 lead, Radwanska picked up three break points, capitalizing on her third one to go ahead in the opener. She then served it out to take the first set 7-5.

In the second set, it appeared that things would go the way of the first with both players staying on serve through the first several games. Sharapova, looking for a break of her own, had a chance with Radwanska serving at 3-all, but the Pole fought it off. Up 4-5 with Sharapova serving, Radwanska recorded her second break of the match at the most opportunistic time, as she clinched the title, her second of the year.

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This was Radwanska’s first title in the United States out of her nine career tournament victories.

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Sharapova lost her fourth Miami final, the most championship matches she’s played at a tournament without winning it.

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After going without a title in 2009 and 2010, Radwanska captured her fifth since 2011. In those five finals, she only dropped one set—in the 2011 China Open final to Andrea Petkovic.

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