By Lauren Lynch
Photo Credit: Mark Howard

(March 31, 2011) On Thursday night, Belarus native Victoria Azarenka destroyed the chances for a Russian roulette final by taking out Vera Zvonareva 6-0, 6-3, in 76 minutes. She will challenge 14th seed Maria Sharapova for the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open singles title on Saturday.

Vera never got the opportunity to break her in the match, but Victoria converted five of eight break points to wins. It seemed that Zvonareva let those atypical mental emotions and defeats get to her game.

Azarenka is the 8th seed and defeated qualifier Lucie Hradecka, 25th seed Dominika Cibulkova, 17th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, defending champion Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals, and third seed Vera Zvonareva in the semifinals to get to the final round. This isn't Vika's first final rodeo in Miami- she won the title in 2009 when she upset former no. 1 Serena Williams.

Azarenka's career head-to-head series with Sharapova is currently tied at 2-2. Azarenka won their last meeting in 2010 in Stanford.

Sharapova routed wild card Petra Martic, Sabine Lisicki, 4th seed Samantha Stosur, 26th seed Alexandra Dulgheru in the quarterfinals, and 21st seed Andrea Petkovic in the semifinals. She is yet to own a title in Miami but has been a finalist twice in 2005 versus Kim Clijsters and 2006 versus Svetlana Kuznetsova.