Maria Sharapova, the number one pin-up girl of ladies' tennis collected a cheque for USD1.7 million after trouncing Justine Henin-Hardenne 6-4, 6-4 in the ladies' singles final of the US Open in Flushing Meadows. Sharapova played superbly in both sets, serving well and deadly accurate in her drives, to eclipse Justine Henin-Hardenne who was appearing in her fourth Grand Slam final in 2006. The prize money for the champion was USD 1.2 million and she received another USD 0.5 million for emerging second best in the US hardcourt series run-up to the US Open.
In the ladies' semi-final, Justine Henin-Hardenne played scrappily but still managed to beat Jelena Jankovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-0. Jelena Jankovic was leading Justine Henin 6-4, 4-2 when she had an altercation with the umpire and ended up losing the next 8 games to Justine Henin. In spite of the fact that in the 2006 US Open each player was allowed 2 challenges on disputed line calls, the silly girl chose to quarrel with the umpire, lose her cool and lose the opportunity to create history by beating the No 2 seed and moving into the final and probably take the title. Dumb ass!
