It was the final they wanted and it did not fail to live up to expectations. Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin pushed each other to the limit last night but in the end it was the Belgian who wanted it most. Henin, the defending champion, became the first female tennis player to earn more than $5 million (about £2.4 million) in a season after she secured a 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 victory at the Sony Ericsson Championships.

With the withdrawal of Serena Williams, the retirement of Jelena Jankovic and some one-sided pool matches, this showpiece event had failed to live up to the hype that comes with a tournament involving the top eight players in the world. But it burst into life yesterday with those lucky enough to be at the Pabellón de Cristal – packed to the rafters for the first time during the week of the tournament - witnessing one of the most dramatic matches in history.

It is a year to the day since the last meeting between these two, a remarkably long time when you consider that they are involved at the business end of tournaments all year round, but they did not waste their time in resuming hostilities.

Their games are like night and day. Sharapova is all about power, hitting her ground strokes from side to side like only those brought up on the courts of Nick Bollettieri know how. Henin is about spin, angles and that beautiful backhand, but her fluidity deserted her for much of yesterday.

The Belgian had a game point at 6-5 down in the first set to force a tie-break and appeared to hit an ace down the “T”, but a HawkEye challenge proved that the ball had landed wide. The world No 1 then hit a double fault.

Sharapova sniffed an opportunity and, after nine deuces, won the game on her eighth set point. Henin threw her racket to the ground in disgust, a rare outburst that summed up her frustration.

Henin had spoken of a foot injury after her semi-final victory over Ana Ivanovic, but the early indications were that she was moving as efficiently as usual. She had two break points in the first game of the second set but Sharapova again weathered the storm. The match proceeded on serve until 4-4, when Henin secured a break to serve for the set at 5-4. Two successive breaks ensued that left Henin leading 6-5. This time she did not falter, serving out the set to love to take the match the distance.

Sharapova’s legs were weary by now and errors began to punctuate her game. Henin needed no invitation to pounce and, with her tail up, she duly established a 5-3 lead. Sharapova fought to the death, as always, and only on her fifth match point and after 3hr 24min did Henin snatch victory.

“In the third set it was mental and physical,” Henin said. “We were both dead. I think I handled the pressure better. I grew up a lot this year and I learnt a lot.” Henin will reward herself with a ten-day holiday in South Africa. After the year she has had, ten days is the least she deserves.