• Australian Open, Day 13

Azarenka suffers amnesia after Australian Open triumph

It took a while for Victoria Azarenka's victory to sink in © Getty Images

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• News: Azarenka blazes past Sharapova to win maiden major
  
• Features: Azarenka tames her inner beast for major glory
  
• Profile: Victoria Azarenka | Maria Sharapova
• Gallery: Australian Open, Day 13

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Azarenka blazes past Sharapova

Day 13 Gallery
What They Said

What happened?
When Maria Sharapova's backhand found the net, Victoria Azarenka sank to her knees in disbelief. Playing in her first grand slam final, the Belarusian recovered from a nervous start to power to a 6-3 6-0 victory in 82 minutes. With the No. 1 ranking also in the bag, it was too much to take for the third seed, who looked up at her supporters' box in bewilderment: "What happened?" You just won the Australian Open, love.

At the double
She may have never gone beyond the semi-final stage at a major before, but Azarenka has pedigree at the Australian Open, winning the girls' event in 2005. She is the first woman since Australia's Chris O'Neill back in 1978 to win both junior and senior singles titles in Melbourne.

What a scream
In the loudest women's grand slam final of all time, two of the game's grunters went head-to-head. Sharapova's scream reaches a terrifying 105 decibels, while Azarenka's screech is just 95, but lasts longer. One supporter was spotted in the stands wearing ear muffs for the ear-piercing encounter.

Lovely lob
After a shaky start, Azarenka began to find her range, and as her confidence grew, she began to take more gambles. Enticing Sharapova into the net with a drop shot, the third seed produced an inch-perfect backhand lob over the lofty Sharapova, who could only turn in despair to see the ball land just inside the baseline.

Azarenka was the centre of attention after her victory © PA Photos

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Lady Luck deserts Maria
With Azarenka running away with the match, Sharapova was going to need a lot of luck if she was going to find a way back from 0-5 in the second set. With Azarenka serving for the championship, two points away from victory, Sharapova's return hit the top of the net and dribbled over for break point. That's where her luck ended as Azarenka wrapped up an emphatic victory in 82 minutes.

Blonde moment
Either Azarenka's team had no faith in their girl, or they don't mind looking foolish, but after her victory on Rod Laver Arena, Azarenka revealed her team would have to dye their hair blond.

Cheeky text
Just moments after clinching her first grand slam title, Azarenka pulled out her mobile phone before proceeding to text. There was no sign of any activity on her Twitter page, so we can only assume she was texting her result to a friend or family member to let them know she had won. The question we want to know is, why weren't they watching?

Taylor made for winning
The 15-year-old Taylor Townsend from the United States has certainly had an Australian Open to remember. Townsend paired up with good friend Gabrielle Andrews to win the girls' doubles title on Friday before going on to take the singles crown on Saturday. The 14th seed defeated Russia's Yulia Putintseva 6-1 3-6 6-3 in the decider to mark her arrival on the international tennis scene.

Homegrown hero
The 2011 boys' singles winner at Wimbledon, Luke Saville, earned the grand slam title in his home country on Saturday. Saville made amends for last year's Australian Open boys' final, in which the then unseeded 16-year-old was thrashed by top-ranked Jiri Vesely. In 2012, as the top seed himself, Saville defeated Canada's Filip Peliwo 6-3 5-7 6-4 to become the third Australian to win the title in the last six years.

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