Australian Open series

Maria Sharapova began her season at the Australian Open, as the fourth seed. After overcoming a tricky section which included Serena Williams and Daniela Hantuchová, she reached the semi-finals for the second (of four) consecutive year, where she fell in three sets to Justine Henin-Hardenne.^[1]

Indian Wells & Miami

Sharapova won her first title of the year at Indian Wells, by defeating compatriot Elena Dementieva in the final in straight sets; it was her first title since she won Birmingham in 2005, and it was the eleventh final out of the last thirteen contested in which she won.^[2] Her good form continued into Miami, where she also reached the final for the second consecutive year. However, she was defeated in straight sets by Svetlana Kuznetsova; this marked only the fourth final in which she lost.^[3] After the latter defeat, Sharapova took two months off the Tour to recover from a foot injury.

European clay court season

Sharapova was seeded fourth at the French Open. In the first round, she overcame Mashona Washington, saving three match points in the process.^[4] She then lost in the fourth round to Dinara Safina (after leading 5–1 in the final set), thus failing to make the quarter-finals of the French Open for the first time since 2003.^[5]

Wimbledon

Sharapova was again seeded fourth at Wimbledon, where she reached the semi-finals for the third consecutive year. After winning her first three matches in straight sets, she was more sternly tested by Flavia Pennetta in the fourth round, but still pulled through in three sets.

In the final eight, she faced first-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist Elena Dementieva and won through in straight sets after a streaker briefly interrupted the match in the second set.^[6]

In the semi-finals, she lost to Amélie Mauresmo, who eventually captured the title.^[7] This marked the fifth time since her Wimbledon victory in 2004 in which she lost to the eventual champion at a Major, and also the fifth time in which she was defeated in the semi-finals of a Major tournament.

US Open series

In the lead-up to the US Open, Sharapova captured her second title of the season by defeating Kim Clijsters in the final of the Acura Classic in San Diego, and in doing so claimed her first victory over the Belgian in five attempts.^[8]

Sharapova entered the US Open as the third seed. She defeated Michaëlla Krajicek, Émilie Loit, Elena Likhovtseva, Li Na and Tatiana Golovin all in straight sets, before being tested in three sets by World No. 1 Amélie Mauresmo, who had beaten her at Wimbledon earlier in the year. Sharapova would be too good for the Frenchwoman this time, winning in three sets, two of which were won without dropping a game.^[9] In the final, she faced Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne, who had previously captured the title in 2003 (and would do so again in 2007), and recorded an impressive straight sets victory to claim her second Grand Slam title at just 19 years of age.^[10]

Fall series

After her success at the us open she won back to back titles at the tier 1 Zurich Open by defeating Shahar Pe'er, Timea Bacsinszky, Katarina Srebotnik, Daniela Hantuchova. She also won the tier 2 Linz Open by defeating Nadia Petrova in the final and thus taking her 5th title of the year.

WTA Tour Championships

Sharapova qualified for the year-end WTA Tour Championships for the third consecutive year, having captured five titles during the regular season. As the second seed, she was drawn in the Red Group along with Kim Clijsters, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva. Sharapova went through the round robin stage undefeated, and thus qualified for the semi-finals after finishing first in the group.

The semi-final saw her up against Justine Henin-Hardenne for the fourth time in the year. Sharapova was defeated in straight sets, thus bringing an end to her otherwise impressive 2006 season.

Singles matches

Tournament	#	Round	Opponent	Result	Score
Australian Open Melbourne, Australia Grand Slam Hard, outdoor 16–29 January 2006
	1	1R	Sandra Klösel	Win	6–2, 6–1
	2	2R	Ashley Harkleroad	Win	6–1, 7–5
	3	3R	Jelena Kostanić	Win	6–0, 6–1
	4	4R	Daniela Hantuchová	Win	6–4, 6–4
	5	QF	Nadia Petrova	Win	7–6(8–6), 6–4
	6	SF	Justine Henin-Hardenne	Loss	6–4, 1–6, 4–6
Pacific Life Open Indian Wells, United States of America Tier I Hard, outdoor 6–19 March 2006
		1R	Bye
		2R	Jamea Jackson	Win	6–4, 6–3
		3R	Lisa Raymond	Win	6–4, 6–0
		4R	Shahar Pe'er	Win	7–6(7–2), 6–1
		QF	Anna-Lena Grönefeld	Win	6–1, 6–3
		SF	Martina Hingis	Win	6–3, 6–3
		W	Elena Dementieva	Win (1)	6–1, 6–2
NASDAQ-100 Open Miami, United States of America Tier I Hard, outdoor 20 March–2 April 2006
		1R	Bye
		2R	Li Na	Win	6–2, 6–4
		3R	Maria Elena Camerin	Win	6–2, 7–6(7–2)
		4R	Maria Kirilenko	Win	3–6, 6–4, 6–1
		QF	Anastasia Myskina	Win	6–4, 6–4
		SF	Tatiana Golovin	Win	6–3, 6–7(5–7), 4–3, ret.
		F	Svetlana Kuznetsova	Loss (2)	4–6, 3–6
French Open Paris, France Grand Slam Clay, outdoor 28 May–11 June 2006
		1R	Mashona Washington	Win	6–2, 5–7, 7–5
		2R	Iveta Benešová	Win	6–4, 6–1
		3R	Alicia Molik	Win	6–0, 7–5
		4R	Dinara Safina	Loss	5–7, 6–2, 5–7
Wimbledon London, Great Britain Grand Slam Grass, outdoor 26 June–9 July 2006
		1R	Anna Smashnova	Win	6–2, 6–0
		2R	Ashley Harkleroad	Win	6–2, 6–2
		3R	Amy Frazier	Win	6–3, 6–2
		4R	Flavia Pennetta	Win	7–6(7–5), 3–6, 6–3
		QF	Elena Dementieva	Win	6–1, 6–4
		SF	Amélie Mauresmo	Loss	3–6, 6–3, 2–6
Acura Classic San Diego, United States of America Tier I Hard, outdoor 29 July–6 August 2006
		1R	Bye
		2R	Vasilisa Bardina	Win	6–4, 6–1
		3R	Vera Zvonareva	Win	6–4, 6–4
		QF	Mary Pierce	Win	6–2, 6–3
		SF	Patty Schnyder	Win	7–5, 6–4
		W	Kim Clijsters	Win (2)	7–5, 7–5
US Open New York City, United States of America Grand Slam Hard, outdoor 28 August–10 September 2006
		1R	Michaëlla Krajicek	Win	6–3, 6–0
		2R	Émilie Loit	Win	6–0, 6–1
		3R	Elena Likhovtseva	Win	6–3, 6–2
		4R	Li Na	Win	6–4, 6–2
		QF	Tatiana Golovin	Win	7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–0)
		SF	Amélie Mauresmo	Win	6–0, 4–6, 6–0
		W	Justine Henin-Hardenne	Win (3)	6–4, 6–4
Zurich Open Zurich, Switzerland Tier I Hard, indoor 16–22 October 2006
		1R	Bye
		2R	Shahar Pe'er	Win	6–4, 7–6(7–4)
		QF	Timea Bacsinszky	Win	6–4, 6–3
		SF	Katarina Srebotnik	Win	7–6(7–3), 6–2
		W	Daniela Hantuchová	Win (4)	6–1, 4–6, 6–3
Generali Ladies Linz Linz, Austria Tier II Hard, indoor 23–29 October 2006
		1R	Bye
		2R	Eleni Daniilidou	Win	7–5, 6–1
		QF	Ana Ivanovic	Win	7–6(7–3), 7–5
		SF	Patty Schnyder	Win	7–5, 7–5
		W	Nadia Petrova	Win (5)	7–5, 6–2
WTA Tour Championships Madrid, Spain WTA Tour Championships Hard, indoor 7–12 November 2006
		RR	Svetlana Kuznetsova	Win	6–1, 6–4
		RR	Kim Clijsters	Win	6–4, 6–4
		RR	Elena Dementieva	Win	6–1, 6–4
		SF	Justine Henin-Hardenne	Loss	2–6, 6–7(5–7)

Singles Schedule

Head-to-head matchups

Ordered by number of wins

• Elena Dementieva 3–1
• Martina Hingis 2–1
• Daniela Hantuchova 2–0
• Shahar Peer 2–0
• Ashley Harkleroad 2–0
• Eleni Daniilidou 1–0
• Jelena Kostanic Tosic 1–0
• Ana Ivanovic 1–0
• Sandra Kloese 1–0
• Kim Clijsters 1–2
• Svetlana Kuznetsova 1–1
• Nadia Petrova 2–0
• Patty Schnyder 2–0
• Justine Henin 2–2
• Timea Bacsinszky 1–0
• Katarina Srebotnik 1–0
• Daniela Hantuchova 2–0
• Ekaterina Bychkova 1–0
• Marion Bartoli 1–0
• Dinara Safina 1–1
• Anastasia Rodionova 1–0
• Anna Chakvetadze 0–1

Finals

Singles: 7 (5–2)

Category Grand Slam (1–0) WTA Tier I (3–1) WTA Tier II (1–1)

Titles by surface Hard (5–2)

Titles by conditions Outdoors (3–2) Indoors (2–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	3.	February 26, 2006	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Hard	Justine Henin-Hardenne	5–7, 2–6
Winner	11.	March 19, 2006	Indian Wells, USA (1)	Hard	Elena Dementieva	6–1, 6–2
Runner-up	4.	April 1, 2006	Miami, USA (2)	Hard	Svetlana Kuznetsova	4–6, 3–6
Winner	12.	August 6, 2006	San Diego, USA (1)	Hard	Kim Clijsters	7–5, 7–5
Winner	13.	September 9, 2006	New York City, USA (1)	Hard	Justine Henin-Hardenne	4–6, 4–6
Winner	14.	October 22, 2006	Zurich, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Daniela Hantuchová	6–1, 4–6, 6–3
Winner	15.	October 29, 2006	Linz, Austria	Hard (i)	Nadia Petrova	7–5, 6–2