Second seed Victoria Azarenka defeated Marion Bartoli 6-3 6-1 in the final of the Brisbane International to claim her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title.
Prior to the final in Brisbane, the 19-year-old Belorussian reached four WTA finals, but always ended up as runner-up: in Estoril and Tashkent in 2007 and Gold Coast and Prague in 2008.
However, this time it was different. Azarenka dominated the third-seeded Frenchwoman, breaking serve six times and winning in 71 minutes.
Azarenka didn’t drop a set on her way to the Brisbane International title, but that doesn’t mean she was unchallenged. The world No.15 was pushed to the limits by Jarmila Gajdosova in the second round (76(4) 75) and by Lucie Safarova (76(5) 64) in the quarterfinals.
