 | | Maria Sharapova |
Miami, Fla. (www.sonyericssonopen.com) – Two-time Sony Ericsson Open finalist Maria Sharapova won her third career Grand Slam singles title with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Ana Ivanovic on Saturday at the Australian Open.
Sharapova, who won Wimbledon in 2004 and the US Open in 2006, did not drop a set en route to the title with impressive wins over Lindsey Davenport, top-seeded Justine Henin and No. 3 seed Jelena Jankovic.
During her championship run, Sharapova lost only 24 games with a winners-to-errors differential of +59, making it the most impressive run to the final in terms of games lost since Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario lost 23 in 1995.
The No. 5 player in the world has now three of the four majors in her collection heading into the Sony Ericsson Open in March. The 91-minute victory over Ivanovic improves Sharapova’s head-to-head record against the No. 2 player in the world to 3-2.
Second-time proved to be a charm for the 20-year-old Sharapova, who lost in the finals last year as the No. 1 seed to unseeded Serena Williams in straight sets.
ABOUT THE SONY ERICSSON OPEN: The 2008 Sony Ericsson Open will be played March 26- April 6 at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Miami. The 12-day combined event, founded by Butch Buchholz in 1985, is owned by IMG. The Sony Ericsson Open is one of nine ATP Masters Series events on the ATP calendar, a top tier event on the Sony Ericsson WTA TOUR calendar, and features the top men's and women's tennis players in the world. In 2007, Novak Djokovic defeated Guillermo Canas for his first Sony Ericsson Open title, while Serena Williams defeated Justine Henin to win her fourth title in Miami. For ticket information, call (305) 442-3367 or visit the website at http://www.SonyEricssonOpen.com.
ABOUT SONY ERICSSON: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications serves the global communications market with innovative and feature-rich mobile phones, accessories and PC-cards. Established as a joint venture by Sony and Ericsson in 2001, with global corporate functions located in London, including R&D sites in Europe, Japan, China, India and America. Sony Ericsson celebrated the 5th anniversary of the start of the joint venture on 1st October, 2006.
Sony Ericsson is the global title sponsor of the Women's Tennis Association, and works with the Association to promote the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in over 80 cities during the year. The 2008 tour culminates with the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Qatar, in November. | 
