TENNIS AO2015 – Viktoria Azarenka, twice Australian Open champion in 2012 and 2013, beat last year’s US Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets with 6-4 6-2 in over an hour and a half in a blockbuster second round match between two former Number 1 players. It has been the first time that two former Number 1 players met in a second round at the Australian Open since 2008 when Maria Sharapova beat Lindsey Davenport. Diego Sampaolo
AO2015: Interviews, Results, Order of Play, Draws
Azarenka is coming back after a rough 2014 season plagued by a foot injury which forced her to miss five months, including the French Open where she reached the semifinals in 2013. She failed to get through the quarter finals in two other Grand Slams losing to Agnieszka Radwanska at the Australian Open and to Ekaterina Makarova in the US Open. At Wimbledon she lost to Bojana Jovanovski in three sets in the second round.
Vika started the 2015 season with a defeat in the opening match in Brisbane against Czech rising star Karolina Pliskova in three sets after a 3-hour and 13-minute match in which Vika earned a match point at 6-4 5-4. As a result Azarenka did not defend her finalist point of last year and dropped in 44th place and entered the Australian Open unseeded after falling to Number 44 in the WTA Ranking.
However, the atmosphere of the Australian Open once again inspired Vika who won two titles in 2012 and 2013 and won 19 of her last 20 matches at Melbourne Park. Azarenka scored her first win against a top-ten player since Brisbane 2014 when she defeated Jelena Jankovic.
Azarenka, who beat 2013 Australian Open semifinalist Sloane Stephens in the first round, showed her superb form breaking Wozniacki in the first eight-minute game of the match and raced to a 3-0 lead with a double break but she hit five unforced errors from 4-3 40-0 allowing the Danish player to break back to draw level to 4-4. From that point Vika reeled off eight of her next ten points. She converted on her fourth break point in the ninth game to take the 5-4 lead before serving out for the set in the second set Vika fought back from 0-3 to win the second game before breaking serve twice in the third game for 2-1 and then in the seventh game for 5-2 when she converted on the first of her three break point chances. Vika earned her match point with an ace and converted it with a backhand volley to close out the match after one hour and 38 minutes. Caroline failed to earn a single break point in the second set. The Dane was broken five times and won just six of her 19 second-serve points. On the contrary Azarenka hit 31 winners and won 81 percent of her net points.
Azarenka celebrated the win with a dance after the match.
Azarenka, who will take on Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the third round round, is favorite to reach the quarter finals where she could face 18-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams who beat Vera Zvonareva 7-5 6-0 in a re-match of the 2010 Wimbledon final. Williams, who has not got through the quarter final stage in Melbourne since 2010, went down 3-5 15-40 on her serve but she saved three set points before reeling off nine consecutive games. Williams hit a 204 km/h ace. Williams will face Elena Svitolina in the third round.
“I think it was a very good match, very high quality. I am happy with the way I stayed consistent throughout the whole match. I think there are always things you can improve but it’s a great progress from one match to another. I just want to keep trying to stay in that path and continue to grow. My net game was pretty well today. I think I took those chances and really went for it. I am mostly pleased about that today. I don’t know what is going to happen in the future. I just want to be able to control what I can. It’s my preparation towards the next match. That’s really what I am going to do and not think about what’s going to happen. Just be really well prepared”, said Azarenka.
“I wish I would have won. You can always look back and say: I wish I had done this. At the end of the day she played better than me today and hats off to that.. I just need to go back and work hard. It’s early, still beginning of the year. I have still 10 months to make up for this. Hopefully it’s still going to be a good year”, said Wozniacki.
“Vika feels great here. I think it’s a curse I have gotten here. I have made semis, then quarters, then fourth round, then third round, this year second round. It’s kind of gone that way the last few years. Hopefully I am going to break that next year and start going the other way. I love this tournament and I am so sad to be out already. Obviously it was a tough draw for both of us. But you know, she came on top and played better. There is always a little bit of luck in the draw. Sometimes it looks tougher, but it’s opponents you like to play. Sometimes it looks easy, but it’s some maybe you don’t feel comfortable playing. At the end of the day you can see there have been so many upsets. There is nothing that comes easy. I am sure I could have had it a little bit easier”
“When you play against a top player like Caroline, she is capable of doing pretty much anything on the court. She is not going to give anything away. She is really going to try to make you miss and go for bigger shots. I think the level of play is required to step up your game to play against a player like her. We had a lot of long rallies, high quality of tennis. When you face somebody who is that good, you have to raise your level.”
Azarenka has always played well in Melbourne. During the post-match press conference she explained the reason of her success Down Under.
“Love the energy of people here. The whole country is like sport nation. They really love sport. I am really excited. It’s the first Grand Slam of the year. What the tournament has been doing to improve is very impressive. I think you feel very excited every time you come here to play. I guess like I am going to adopt an Aussie kid or something like that”
