As the best-rewarded season of her young life draws to a close, the 19-year-old Sharapova has demonstrated beyond argument that the nice kid who won Wimbledon two summers ago has developed into an athlete of dazzling skills and commendable toughness who is not averse to intimidation or playing to the gallery.

For the photo shoot which preceded this eight-woman event, the 6ft 2in Sharapova thrust herself high above the other seven qualifiers by donning four-inch stilettos. And for her opening match she turned out in a lavender number which mirrored the colour of the indoor court. It was, she asserted later, "a coincidence". The suspicion is that virtually nothing in her life could be classified as coincidence any more, not since she captured her second grand slam, the US Open, in September and embarked on a winning streak which now totals 20, the longest of the year. New York was the career turning point, from promise to greatness.

"It seemed a huge burden was lifted off her back when she won the US Open, " said a WTA insider. "She is so much more approachable now, once again the friendly girl we knew before she won Wimbledon in 2004. Now you see her walk into the players' lounge whistling, walking her jaunty walk, smiling most of the time. Before she always seemed to be preoccupied with something else." This glittering emergence has succeeded in edging aside her obsessive father, Yuri. Maria's coach, the American Michael Joyce, now sits a row in front of Yuri Sharapova at her matches, and when the WTA experimented briefly with having coaches alongside their players on court, it was Joyce who took on that role.

Nor is she any longer under the same roof as Yuri at the family home in Florida.

Instead, she spends a lot of time on the other side of the States, at an apartment she bought in Manhattan Beach, California. Thus has independence been established.

Despite damaging her right foot early last month, Sharapova is hammering out exciting, winning tennis just when her leading rivals, exhausted and injured, are yearning for the playing season to end.

"I'm healthy, not thinking about protecting some injury, " she said on Friday.

"My foot is still not perfect, but I'm able to keep it under control. I am a much better player than I was a year ago because I have finally stopped growing and my muscles are building a little bit.

"Because I've won so many matches I'm enjoying myself, knowing I've played good tennis. I feel good about my game, and that compares well with the middle part of the year, when I wasn't playing at all." Sharapova sells herself short there, since in 2006 she has won five tournaments . . .

the last three in succession . . .

has twice been runner-up and five times a semi-finalist, including Wimbledon and the Australian Open. She sums it up as "a really cool year" and promises, "There are a lot more cherries I'm gonna put on that cake." Named the world's richest female athlete by Forbes Magazine a year ago, when her total earnings were estimated at $24 million, she has done even better this year. "More than any male tennis player, " says Scott. "No one has reached that height. From a marketing perspective, Maria is the best female athlete in the world, and the best known.

"She has had a huge impact on tennis and broken all kinds of barriers in terms of what a female athlete can achieve.

We try to promote her as a successful tennis player first and a glamorous person beyond that." The combination of being stunningly beautiful and a winner has catapulted Sharapova ahead of everyone else. These championships failed to attract the public when they were staged in Los Angeles but they have been pulling crowds in excess of 9,000 every night to the Madrid Arena, and when she won in Linz last month the tournament took the unprecedented step of selling 1,500 standing tickets for her every match, so great was the demand.

Does Maria worry, someone asked her the other evening, that more people talk about her body than her tennis? The reply comes swiftly: "I can't really be worried about what people think, I can't control their opinions or their thoughts. That's the least of my worries." What part of your own body pleases you most then, Maria? "My brain, " she smiles.

Dismissed as a "passport Russian" by the workaholic male player Nikolay Davydenko, because she has made the United States her home since the age of eight, Sharapova has stilled that sort of criticism by announcing she intends to make her debut in Fed Cup, the international team event, for her homeland next year. So everybody should be pleased with Maria, especially Scott, who has seen some bleak times since taking on the WTA Tour's top job three years ago. Due to announce today that Madrid will be awarded this event again next year, he smiles, "We are going through a golden period right now." The future is gold, the future is Sharapova.