Maria Sharapova strikes US Open gold

Maria Sharapova waves to the crowd as she walks around the court with the US Open Championship trophy after she defeated Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium to win the US Open Championship on the 13th day of the 2006 US Open tennis tournament in Flushing Meadows, New York, on Saturday. PHOTO: EPA

Maria Sharapova collapsed in joy on the court after winning the US Open 6-4, 6-4 Saturday over Justine Henin-Hardenne.

The Russian third seed lifted the grand Slam honor more than two years after making her big-match breakthrough with the 2004 Wimbledon trophy.

The defeat denied Belgian Henin-Hardenne the chance to regain the world No. 1 ranking from Amelie Mauresmo.

The match stretched a trend of two-set women's finals, with the last three-setter in 1995 when Steffi Graf defeated Monica Seles.

Sharapova won her third title of the year as she improved to 58-14 on the season.

Henin-Hardenne, a finalist at all four majors in 2006, won a third French Open title this season at Roland Garros, but lost finals in Australia and at Wimbledon.

"This is an amazing honor," said Sharapova, who ran into the stands to hug her father and coach Yuri before later speaking on a gold mobile phone in the heat of victory while awaiting the trophy presentation.

"I had to play patient and smart against Justine," said the Florida-based Russian, who had stalled five times at the Grand Slam semi-final stage since her Wimbledon success.

Maria Sharapova reacts after defeating Justine Henin-Hardenne in the women's finals of the US Open tennis tournament in Flushing Meadows, New York, on Saturday. PHOTO: EPA

"I had lost four times to Justine, so I threw out everything I'd done and did a 360 [turn of strategy]. I did the total opposite. Justine had some amazing results this year, getting to the final of all four Slams," she said.

The win was worth US$1.7 million to Sharapova -- US$1.2 million for the tournament itself and US$500,000 for winning the run-up Open series.

Henin-Hardenne took defeat in the final of a major with grace.

"The best player won," the Belgian said. "Maria's a real fighter."

Sharapova recovered a service break early in the first set and broke again to claim the opener. She needed one final break to insure title success.

Andy Roddick reacts after defeating Mikhail Youzhny during their US Open semi-final round match in Flushing Meadows, New York, on Saturday. PHOTO: EPA