Sharapova lifts 28th title in Indian Wells

Sharapova was a beaten finalist in Indian Wells last year, going down 6-2 6-3 to Victoria Azarenka, but she went one better this time after defeating Wozniacki 6-2 6-2 in one hour and 21 minutes.

The victory means the 25-year-old second seed lifted the title, the 28th WTA singles crown of her career, without dropping a set in the tournament.

In the match between two former world No 1s and former champions here – Sharapova winning in 2006 and Wozniacki claiming the title in 2011 – it was the Russian who was quickly into the ascendancy and she never looked back.

She broke Wozniacki in the first game of the match and then broke for a second time to make it 5-2 before serving out for the opening set.

Wozniacki failed to make the most of either of her two break points in that set, and she did not manage a single one in the second as Sharapova continued to dominate. The world No 3 again broke Wozniacki immediately and, although the Dane battled hard as she did in the semi-final when she fought back from 2-6 0-2 down to beat Angelique Kerber, Sharapova was not to be denied and once again broke in the seventh game before holding serve to claim the title.

The men’s final was set to be a fierce contest between Juan Martin Del Potro and Rafael Nadal late last night.

Del Potro followed up his quarter-final win over Andy Murray with a 4-6 6-4 6-4 victory over the world No 1 Novak Djokovic to seal a final showdown with Nadal.

Nadal, meanwhile, reached his fourth straight final after returning from seven months out with knee problems by beating Tomas Berdych 6-4 7-5.

Ahead of last night’s clash, Del Potro had not beaten Nadal since overcoming him in the semi-finals of the 2009 US Open, when he went on to beat Roger Federer in the final.