The first 10 minutes gave a misleading impression, as Azarenka came out a little nervously, serving double-faults and mis-hitting her groundstrokes.
As soon as she had settled, however, she had the rhythm in both her movement and her stroke-making that Sharapova lacked. From 0-2 in the first set, she reeled off 12 of the next 13 games to take the match 6-3, 6-0.
"I was super-nervous," said Azarenka after the match. "I couldn't wait to actually go on the court and play. I was like 'Okay, I'm ready to go. When is it coming? What time is it?'
"But I think I really handled the situation well after the beginning, when she really started aggressively. It kind of kept me a little bit off guard. But I'm glad I could stay humble and just take it one at a time. I just kept fighting, kept fighting, and changing the momentum."
Azarenka's victory extended the sequence of unpredictable Grand Slam winners, as there have now been five different champions in as many tournaments since Kim Clijsters won here last year. But perhaps she was not so unpredictable to those who saw her tear through a strong field in Sydney the week before this tournament.
Certainly Britain's Heather Watson, who took just a single game off Azarenka in the first round of this Australian Open, can now feel a little better about herself.
Azarenka's victory means that she will replace Caroline Wozniacki as the new world No 1 when the next set of rankings are pubished, although last year's Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and Sharapova are not far behind.
As for Sharapova herself, she admitted that she had perhaps overdone the aggression in her determination not to let Azarenka dominate her.
The result was that she put ball after ball into the tramlines. "I was always the one running around like a rabbit," Sharapova said, "trying to play catch-up all the time. She was a step quicker. Her shot was bigger. And from my side, I don't know, the switch went off."
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