The 23-year-old from Krakow, already by far the most successful Polish women's player ever, has yet to win a grand slam event but with nine WTA titles to her name that seems only a matter of time.

"It's a great feeling to win a tournament like this here in Miami. It's the biggest tournament after grand slams, especially with all the top players here."

"You have to play six very good matches to win this tournament. So I'm just extremely happy," added Radwanska, who also won a top level event earlier this year in Beijing.

Radwanska, who didn't lose a set in the tournament, beat Sharapova by making her work hard and think hard by using a variety of strokes that clearly frustrated the Russian.

That approach has become her trademark.

"I think my tennis, it's just about trying to mix it up. I think I was born with that. So it's never been one shot or one thing. When we practice, we practice everything. That's what we were doing all my life pretty much," she said.

What Radwanska lacks in terms of a big serve, she more than makes up for in intelligent positional play and crafty variations of speed and spin.

While she plays down her progress, in beating world number two Sharapova, who she had lost to seven times in the previous eight meetings, Radwanska highlighted the improvements she has made in the past 12 months.

"I really played well today, you know, from the beginning until the end. I was really focusing on my serve, and I'm very happy I didn't lose my serve. It was actually I think the key in this match.

"But it's just a great feeling to beat those kind of players, especially in the final and playing great tennis," she said.