NEW YORK - Maria Sharapova began the
U.S. Open with as much buzz about her sponsorships as her strokes, as much talk about her getups as her game.

She's long insisted she's more about substance than style, though, and now she owns a second Grand Slam title to prove it.

Better on the biggest points all night, the third-seeded Sharapova beat No. 2 Justine Henin-Hardenne 6-4, 6-4 in the U.S. Open final Saturday to add a follow-up championship to her breakthrough title at
Wimbledon in 2004.

"I experienced it two years ago, and I knew that I wasn't done," Sharapova said. "I had a lot more in me."

What Sharapova had on this night was a lot more force on nearly every shot, from groundstrokes to serves to returns. She faced only one break point all match, broke Henin-Hardenne three times, and compiled a 20-15 edge in winners.

"She's been a real fighter tonight," said Henin-Hardenne, who would have moved up to No. 1 with a victory. "The better player won tonight."

Quite a concession from the Belgian, who leads the tour this season in matches won (54), Grand Slam matches won (25) and tournament titles (five). She was the first woman since Martina Hingis in 1997 to reach a year's four major finals.

"She didn't give me a lot of opportunities," Henin-Hardenne said.

The only times Sharapova lost her composure came after Henin-Hardenne put a forehand into the net to end the match.

First, Sharapova dropped to her knees and covered her face. Then she hopped up and down, giggling — like the teenager she is. Then she tried to climb through the stands to hug her father, Yuri, and hitting partner, Mike Joyce, but got lost, and needed guidance from an usher. When she hoisted the trophy overhead, its lid fell off.

And then came her at-times petulant postmatch news conference, which Sharapova began by saying, "Let's make this a positive session tonight, please. Por favor." She got into a bit of a testy exchange with reporters who asked about the apparent signals sent by Yuri and Joyce about when to eat bananas or sip drinks at changeovers (coaching isn't allowed).

All of which led to a sentence that it's fair to say had never been uttered by a Grand Slam champion. Or anyone else, for that matter.

"I believe, at the end of the day, personally, my life is not about a banana," Sharapova said.

"It's not about what I wear. It's not about the friends that I have. My career right now is about winning a tennis match. And right now, I'm sitting here as a U.S. Open champion, and the last thing I think people need to worry about is a banana."

She became an immediate endorsement darling after her out-of-nowhere triumph at the All England Club at age 17. But then, on the court, she kept coming oh-so-close at Slams without producing title No. 2. She lost five consecutive major semifinals until beating No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo on Friday. Now Sharapova is only the eighth woman to beat the players ranked Nos. 1 and 2 at the same Grand Slam tournament.

"I think she felt a little pressure. People were talking like she didn't have her Slam," Joyce said. "It was just a matter of time. I think she had to prove to herself that she could do it."

If that's so, she proved it to everyone under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Two games into the final, a man's voice came from the sellout crowd of 23,712, screaming the tag line from Sharapova's oft-played current TV ad: "I feel pretty!" In the commercial, that tune is sung by various people as Sharapova walks out onto court. The punch line: Sharapova swings her racket and lets out one of her trademark shrieks.

Those high-pitched screams were muted at the start of the match, but within a few games, Sharapova was wailing as loudly as ever. Not that Henin-Hardenne was silent, punctuating winners with, "Allez!"

Sharapova won the coin toss and elected to receive, then went out and stood right at the baseline while Henin-Hardenne hit practice serves at the end of the warmup session. Picture Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter taking batting practice against Red Sox starter Curt Schilling — it just doesn't happen in other sports.

Perhaps Sharapova noticed something, because she immediately earned two break points in the opening game. Henin-Hardenne saved both, then broke for a 2-0 edge with the aid of two double-faults by Sharapova, who never faced another break point.

But Sharapova broke right back, helped by the shot of the evening: a half-volley drop winner to close a 10-stroke exchange. That was enough to claim the first set.

With the outcome still in doubt at 3-3 in the second set, Sharapova won eight of nine points to break Henin-Hardenne for the third time — yelling "Come on!" as she ran to the changeover — then hold for a 5-3 edge.

"Come on!" from someone born in Siberia? Well, Sharapova has made her home in Florida since she was 7. After calling her mom with a cell phone while waiting for the trophy ceremony, Sharapova leaned forward in her chair and said, "This is crazy!"

During her comments to the crowd, Sharapova thanked Billie Jean King for her work for women in tennis, including for equal prize money. Sharapova earned $1.7 million with her victory, although she makes far more from endorsement deals than prize money.

Clearly, she finds more gratification in trophies.

"You can't buy a Grand Slam title, you know?" Sharapova said. "You can't buy it."

She's still only 19 and has two. After the singles final ended, Martina Navratilova, who's 49, collected her 59th Grand Slam title by teaming with Bob Bryan to win the mixed doubles final 6-2, 6-3 over Kueta Peschke and Martin Damm.

"See, if you play long enough, good things happen," Navratilova said. "I should know."

Associated Press

Maria Sharapova is ranked No.31 in the Askmen.com top 99

http://www.askmen.com/specials/2006_top_...id=1236:1:

Quote:The Top 99 Most Desirable Women is an annual list compiled by the readers and staff of AskMen.com, ranking the females that have been collectively deemed the year’s most alluring. 2.5 million reader votes were cast for the 2006 version of the list, which will be read by millions more worldwide.