Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska denied world No.2 Maria Sharapova a shot at her first victory in four finals appearances and she captured her maiden Miami women’s title. Radwanska earned her second victory of 2012 and her ninth career WTA Tour title with a 7-5 6-4 dismantling of the error-prone Sharapova.

Earlier this year in Dubai, the 23-year-old from Krakow had won, but the win at Miami is marked the biggest win of her career with a new career high ranking of fourth in the world.

The South Florida crowd was divided in its support, on a sunny, 85-degree afternoon. Before Radwanska hit her first baseline winner, the match was 72 minutes old. She was content to extend rallies and play steadily until the more aggressive Sharapova would make a mistake. Radwanska committed only 10 unforced errors and erased all three break points she faced, while Sharapova finished with 45 unforced errors, many from the backhand side.

The heat did not seem to faze either player, although Sharapova draped a rolled-up cold towel around her neck during changeovers. However, the pressure to hold serve made Sharapova wobble twice. Sharapova was let down by some reckless strokes. She committed four unforced errors when she was serving at 5-6 in the first set. This made her lose the set.

In the second set, the same pattern continued, with Radwanska had only one break point, the last point of the game. Sharapova struck a forehand long, and Radwanska lifted her arms in accomplishment.

En route to the final, Radwanska beat Venus Williams and won every set she played. With her other victory at the 2007 U.S. Open, she improved to 2-7 against Sharapova.

For a 10th consecutive year, Sharapova was trying to extend her streak of winning at least one title. Instead, she settled for her third runner-up trophy in 2012. Earlier, she had lost finals at the Australian Open and Indian Wells. Both the title matches were against Azarenka.

The Russian looked agitated and the opportunistic Radwanska lured her into defeat. The loss leaves the 24-year-old Sharapova still chasing her first win in Miami. For her it was the first professional tournament she would watch each year as a youngster. She attended the international tennis school at that time and her family would make the annual four-hour trek by car to Miami.

Agnieszka Radwanska · Miami women's title · Venus Williams · WTA tour

At the WTA Championships in Doha, Qatar, Caroline Wozniacki won a match today by defeating Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 but she also won something much more important. She clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking for 2010, with the victory.

For the 20-year old from Denmark, it’s been a long and successful year. To end the season on the top of the rankings, Wozniacki becomes the 10th different woman. To achieve Wozniacki her goal, injuries to Serena and Venus Williams helped, but as Wozniacki’s rivals and they will tell you, she deserved it.

Wozniacki, with the win will now play in the semi-finals in Doha against either Kim Clijsters or Samantha Stosur. The other semi-finalist is the Vera Zvonareva of Russia.

In Thursday’s session, Belgium’s Clijsters beat Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 5-7, 6-, while Stosur, who was on a two match winning streak, lost 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4) to a tough Elena Dementieva of Russia.

Wozniacki admitted that on Thursday, she wasn’t in top form but she had enough to beat Schiavone, the 2010 French Open Champion. Wozniacki said, “I just hung in there and kept my focus and tried to get a little more aggressive and not let her dictate the game and that helped me through.”

Clijsters was pleased with her play on Thursday and many think is the favorite in Doha, but she expects to improve. Clijsters said, “It was a good match and obviously disappointing to lose that second set. It was close”.

Caroline Wozniacki · Elena Dementieva · Venus Williams · WTA

The opening day of the 2010 US Open was packed with plenty of exciting tennis on the women’s and men’s sides. As always, most of the focus was on the show courts Arthur Ashe Stadium, Louis Armstrong Stadium, and the Grandstand. Of course, there was also some great tennis on the outside side courts of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The action was just as hot as the 90+ degree weather and the same was with the sports betting lines.

The 2010 US Open officially kicked off at 11:00 A.M. Eastern Time as young American Melanie Oudin faced Olga Savchuk in the first match at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Oudin, who had a Cinderella story last year by reaching the quarterfinals, easily defeated her qualifier opponent 6-3 6-0 in less than an hour. This match was followed by women’s defending champion Kim Clijsters, who took out Greta Arn 6-0 7-5. Andy Roddick concluded the day session at Arthur Ashe Stadium with a convincing routine victory over Frenchman Stephen Robert 6-3 6-2 6-2.

The night session at Arthur Ashe Stadium featured Venus Williams and Roger Federer. After a brief opening ceremony in front of more than 20,000 fans, Venus Williams stepped out on the court and defeated Roberta Vinci 6-4 6-1.

Roger Federer cruised through his first round match 6-1 6-4 6-2 against the 5’7” lefty Brian Dabul. In fact, Federer was so relaxed in this match that he hit an incredible winner on the run and between the legs during the second set. At times, the match seemed like a show rather than a competition as Federer showed off his swinging arsenal to the New York City night crowd.

Outside of Arthur Ashe Stadium, some other eye catching results included five set victories by fifth seed Robin Soderling and 17th seed Gael Monfils. 2001 US Open champion Lleyton Hewitt lost a five set match to Paul Henri mathieu.

On the women’s side, top players Samantha Stosur, Francesca Schiavone, Victoria Azarenka, and Elena Dementieva were all victorious. Unseeded Dinara Safina, who was the first seed here last year, lost her first round match to Hantuchova 6-3 6-4.

The fans at court 13 were very disappointed as the first two matches ended with retirements by Evgeny Korolev and then by 27th seed Fernando Gonzalez.

2010 US Open · Andy Roddick · Roger Federer · Tennis · Venus Williams