Maria Sharapova with her runner-up trophy
Maria Sharapova wasn’t the popular pick to win the Australian Open. In fact, many predicted she would be upset in the first round by Gisela Dulko given that she had not played a competitive match in three months because of a bad ankle sprain and pulled out of Brisbane on account of the same injury issue.
Facing a tough draw from start to finish, Sharapova faced every challenge head on and looked dominant, moving better than ever, serving well and hitting her groundstrokes with purpose, through the early rounds of the tournament. She avoided a quarter-final match up with Serena Williams and in the semis, avenged her loss to Petra Kvitova in the 2010 Wimbledon final to find herself in the championship match for the second time in the last three Majors.
Pitted against first time Grand Slam finalist Victoria Azarenka, the script for Sharapova’s latest title run seemed to point towards her completing one of the most courageous injury comebacks in...
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