the Australian Open as the third seed, defeating Heather Watson, Casey Dellacqua, Mona Barthel and Iveta Benešová in the first four rounds without dropping a set. In the quarterfinals, Azarenka faced a sterner test against world No. 8, Agnieszka Radwańska, but won in three sets. She then defeated the eleventh seed and defending champion Kim Clijsters to reach her first Major singles final, where she faced the world No. 4 Maria Sharapova. After a nervous start Azarenka proceeded to win the last nine games to win the title. Azarenka recorded her first Grand Slam singles title and became the world No. 1 (with effect from 30 January 2012) in the same match. Her first tournament as world number one was the Qatar Open. She won her third title of the year in Doha, defeating Sam Stosur in the final. Azarenka planned to compete at the Dubai Championships. However, after a bye in the first round, she withdrew from the tournament due to an ankle injury. In March, she played in the BNP Paribas Open, where she was the top seed. In a re-run of the 2012 Australian Open decider, her opponent in the final was world No. 2 Maria Sharapova, and once again, Azarenka won in straight sets, thus extending her undefeated record in 2012 to 23–0. Azarenka's 26 match win-streak ended in the quarters of the Sony Ericsson Open in a straight set loss against Marion Bartoli. In April, she competed at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. Making it to the semifinals she faced Agnieszka Radwańska and won in straight sets. This win meant she had beaten Radwańska in all five matches against her this year. Azarenka would then face world No. 2 Maria Sharapova in the final where she fell in straight sets. Azarenka then competed at the Madrid Open. She made it to the finals but was beaten easily by Serena Williams in straight sets. The result gave Azarenka only her third defeat of the year. Azarenka's next tournament was the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, she advanced to the third round quite easily but then withdrew from the tournament, citing a right shoulder strain, and avoided a third round clash with Dominika Cibulková. At the French Open, she defeated Alberta Brianti, Dinah Pfizenmaier and Alexandra Wozniak respectively to qualify for the fourth round. However, in the fourth round, she lost in straight sets against Dominika Cibulková of Slovakia.