Azarenka wins Australian Open championship

MELBOURNE, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Victoria Azarenka picked up her first Grand Slam title with a straight-set victory Saturday over Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open.

Azarenka won the last nine games in a decisive 6-3, 6-0 win over Sharapova. It marked the fourth consecutive major tournament in which a woman won her first Grand Slam title.

Azarenka, as of Monday, also moves to the world No. 1 ranking for the first time.

Sharapova posted a first-game break and held serve at 15 before Azarenka won a game.

But Azarenka broke back at love and lost one point in holding serve to make the score 3-2. Sharapova won her next service game but Azarenka reeled off the nine consecutive games for the win.

Azarenka had just 12 unforced errors in the match and won 60 percent of the points off Sharapova's serve. She won more than two-thirds of the points in the second set, when Sharapova was trying to fight back but piled up 15 unforced errors in the set.

Sharapova suffered her first shutout of a set at the Australian Open, an event she won in 2008. She was also the runner-up last year at Wimbledon, losing to Petra Kvitova.

That was Kvitova's first Grand Slam title, too. Li Na won the 2011 French Open title and Samantha Stosur owns the U.S. Open title. Along with Azarenka, all are first-time major tournament winners.