Azarenka broke Sharapova six times in improving her record to 23-0 this year, the best start to a season since Martina Hingis went 37-0 to open 1997. The top-ranked Belarusian earned $1 million for her fourth title of the year.
It was a rematch of the Australian Open final, which Azarenka won 6-3, 6-0 in January to keep Sharapova from regaining the No. 1 ranking. This time, Sharapova was error-prone during the 1 1/2 -hour match on a cold, windy day in the desert. The second-ranked Russian kept hitting close to the lines and missing.
No. 3 Roger Federer was set to play American John Isner in the men’s final later.
