Sharapova eyes Australian Open, not ranking

London, Jan 28(ANI): Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova feels she is motivated by the prospect of winning her fourth grand slam title on Saturday at the Australian Open final.

She will face world number three Victoria Azarenka in the Australian Open final and the winner is set to attain the number one player ranking vacated by Caroline Wozniacki after her quarterfinal exit from the competition.

Sharapova has already been world number one earlier and believes that the top-placed ranking is not her inspiration, but winning the grand slam is.

"Having been in the (No.1) position before, that doesn't really matter to me. Personally, for me, it's more about the grand slam win than the No.1 ranking. That's just always been the goal for me," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Sharapova, as saying.

She also played down talks about Azarenka playing her first grand slam final, so it gives her an edge over her opponent.

"Even though Victoria hasn't really been in that stage of a grand slam before, she's certainly won big titles and she has the experience," she added.harapova also believes she is expecting Azarenka to give her a good fight in the final of the Australian Open at the Rod Laver Arena.

"This is a stage she's wanted to be at for a long time, so I do expect her to play really good tennis," she further added. (ANI)