By her own admission, Maria Sharapova knew little of Daria Gavrilova before stepping on court for their opening round encounter at the Miami Open.

Two hours and two sets later, this gap in her knowledge was no longer. Unfortunately for the No.2 seed, so too were her hopes of lifting the title.

Raised on the cement of the Bollettieri Academy in west Florida, success in Miami has proven surprisingly elusive for Sharapova, who has fallen five times in the final at her ‘home’ tournament.

Gavrilova, playing at Crandon Park for the very first time, dashed her hopes at a far earlier juncture this time around, wonderfully marrying defense with attack to shock her childhood idol, 7-6(4), 6-3.

When Sharapova’s final forehand sailed wide, the upset-hungry crowd roared its approval, launching Gavrilova into a celebratory leap. Nearly an hour later, she was still on cloud nine.

“I still can’t realize that it’s my dream,” Gavrilova said in her post-match press conference. “I have been dreaming about beating Maria since I was probably 12 when I saw her win Wimbledon, when she beat Serena. I was like ‘Oh, I really want to play her and beat her’. She was my idol. She’s obviously Russian. She was just huge in Russia.”

Ninety-five places separated the players on the tennis ladder, but it was clear early on that Gavrilova was in no way daunted by the challenge in front of her. If anything, she relished it, winning over the crowd immediately by running down every ball she could reach – and plenty she could not.

“I was actually surprised how many people knew my nickname,” she said. “A few people were saying, ‘Come on, Dasha! Let’s Go! You can do it!’ It was an amazing feeling.”

In a battle of shotmakers, the players racked up both winners and unforced errors in a tense opening set. Surprisingly, it was Sharapova that wavered at the critical moment, snatching at a presentable drive volley when trailing 5-4 in the tie-break.

Gavrilova made the most of this let off, closing out the set before surging 3-0 ahead in the second. Sharapova pegged her back to 4-3, but Gavrilova was not to be denied, breaking to love before serving out for a famous victory.

The 5’5” Gavrilova was a bundle of energy throughout and afterwards Sharapova paid tribute to her conqueror’s tenacity: “She runs a lot of balls down. I was committing a lot of errors off of those balls and not really staying patient, and maybe going for too many winners but not moving forward enough.

“Of course it’s a bit of a surprise. It’s the first round. I’m expected to win. But that’s why we play the matches – you still have to go out and win it, no matter if you’re the favorite. Today I didn’t.”