MELBOURNE (AFP) - Russia's Maria Sharapova won her first Australian Open title Saturday, powering to a straight sets victory in her glamour final with Serbia's Ana Ivanovic to claim her third Grand Slam title.

The 20-year-old fifth seed ground down the fourth seeded Ivanovic 7-5, 6-3 over one hour 31 minutes, successfully completing her mission to make amends for a thrashing in last year's final at the hands of Serena Williams.

An intensely-focused Sharapova unleashed the form of her life in her quest for the season-opening Grand Slam, not dropping a set as she downed the top three ranked women in world tennis to get her hands on the trophy.

She adds the Australian title to the Wimbledon crown she won in 2004 and her 2006 US Open.

The ecstatic Russian said she was delighted to make amends for last year's "depressing" 6-2, 6-1 loss here and bounce back from injuries that derailed her 2007 season and cost her the world number one ranking.

"This is so much sweeter because when I was going through those setbacks I tried to remember what it was like to hold the Wimbledon trophy and the US Open trophy," she said.

"To know that I was capable of doing it before and believe in myself that I'd be capable of doing it again some day."

The emotion spilled out as she accepted the Australian Open trophy on Rod Laver Arena.

"This is just incredible, if someone had told me in the middle of last year that I'd be standing on this stage in front of all you guys with the big one, I'd probably say forget it," she said.

"Last year was a pretty difficult year me," she added, dedicating the win to coach Michael Joyce's mother Jane, who died last year.

Sharapova also revealed she had been inspired to victory by 12-time Grand Slam champion Billie Jean King, who sent her a text message before the match saying "champions take chances and pressure's a privilege".

"I had those great words in my mind during the match," she said.

The Russian slumped to the court in tears after claiming victory, then rushed over to shake hands with father Yuri in the stands.

There were also tears from Ivanovic, who battled gamely but ultimately had no answer to Sharapova's powerful serve in the 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) cauldron at the Rod Laver Arena.

A flurry of unforced errors, 33 to Sharapova's 15, did not help Ivanovic's cause and the partisan 15,000-strong crowd was unable to cheer her to victory in the decider.

The Serb, while disappointed with the loss, took heart from the fact that she showed no sign of the nerves that crippled her in the French Open final last year.

"I really felt comfortable out there, I wasn't too nervous at all," the 20-year-old said, expressing confidence that a breakthrough Grand Slam win was not far away.

Ivanovic drew first blood as the pair probed for weaknesses in the opening game, blasting an ace as Sharapova netted two returns.

But the pumped-up Russian held Ivanovic to love in her first four service games, running the Serb around with blistering groundstrokes, not hesitating to attack the net and leave her opponent with nowhere to go.

She seized a break in the fifth game but Ivanovic's radar finally kicked in and she scored her first point off Sharapova's serve in the fifth game after 22 minutes, going on to break back after Sharapova double faulted twice.

Sharapova recovered to break Ivanovic again three games later, then served out the set after 49 minutes.

She maintained her aggression in the second but the Serb held on until the decisive break came in the seventh game and Ivanovic's resistance finally faltered as Sharapova earned three match points in her next service game.

Ivanovic saved one chance but hit a forehand return wide to give the Russian victory.