Australian Open 2012: Victoria Azarenka Will Overpower Maria Sharapova

In the 2012 Australian Open women's final, one player will be looking for her big break and another will be looking for redemption.

Just so we're all clear, Victoria Azarenka is the first and Maria Sharapova is the second.

Though they'll be looking for different things in the women's final, it is actually pretty remarkable how similar Azarenka and Sharapova are. Both of them are ultra-competitive hard hitters, and both of them are louder than your average tennis player.

The auditory aspect of this match is going to be beaten to death before, during and after the blasted thing, but what really matters here is that we're going to see a match between two players that are almost carbon copies of each other. Both are going to get by on their power, and neither of them are going to back down.

Despite the similarities, I'm going to pick Azarenka to win this one. 

I'm not convinced that Azarenka is invincible or anything. What convinces me that she's going to win is that Sharapova is so darn vincible. 

We've been reminded of this time and again throughout her career, and we were reminded of it again in her semifinals match against Petra Kvitova. Sharapova avenged her loss to Kvitova in last year's Wimbledon final, but it wasn't easy. Kvitova gave Sharapova hell after losing the first set, and she kept up the attack until the final couple games of the third set.

What gave Sharapova trouble is the same thing that gave her trouble against Kvitova at Wimbledon last year. When she's matched up against somebody who hits just as hard as she does, whatever advantage she has tends to disappear.

Make no mistake, Kvitova could have beaten Sharapova, and she probably should have. She just plain choked.

Azarenka looked like she was going to choke against Kim Clijsters in the semifinals, as she let Clijsters dominate the second set after barely holding her off in the first set. But Azarenka put her foot back on the gas in the third set and finished the match in style.

Not many people expected Azarenka to beat Clijsters, but it was self-evident that Azarenka had no intention on following the plans laid out by others. She played with an attitude.

She's going to bring that same attitude with her to her match against Sharapova. Her power will allow her to bother Sharapova the same way Kvitova was able to bother her, but her attitude is going to be the reason she wins this match. She will not let Sharapova have any easy points, and she will not wilt when the going gets tough.

In the end, she'll have her first Grand Slam.

Prediction: Azarenka in three.