Victoria Azarenka clinched her 18th career title and her first since her win over Serena Williams in Cincinnati in August 2013 at the Brisbane International beating Angelique Kerber 6-3 6-1.
Azarenka has extended her win-loss record to 6-0 in her head-to-head matches against Kerber.
Azarenka clinched a hard-fought first set with 6-3. The first six games went on serve until 3-3. Kerber was solid with her left-handed backhand. The German played a great defense tennis, while Azarenka made good shots at the net. The match was highly entertaining in the first six games with a lot of winners and few errors.
There were three consecutive breaks in the first set from the fifth game. Azarenka earned the first break point at 2-2. Kerber saved the first break point but Azarenka earned another break point and converted it for 3-2 as Kerber missed a forehand wide. Kerber broke straight back in the next game after a great return game to draw level to 3-3 but Azarenka took another break lead in the seventh game for 4-3 with after a great return game before holding her next service game. Azarenka broke for the third straight time closing out the first set after Kerber made a double fault on the set point.
Azarenka saved three break points in the first game of the second set to hold her serve for 1-0 before going up a set and a break in the second game. Azarenka reeled off six her sixth consecutive game to race to a 3-0 lead. Azarenka held her serve in the fifth game for 4-1 before breaking serve for the fifth time in the match in the next game after Kerber made a double fault.
Azarenka earned two championships point at 5-1 40-15. Kerber saved the first chance but Azarenka sealed the win at the second opportunity.
Azarenka hit 23 winners to just nine unforced errors and converted five of her eight break point chances. Kerber hit 25 winners to 27 unforced errors
Azarenka has showed great form at the start of the season and will be one of the players to beat at the Australian Open which starts on 18th January. She won her 18th title in 34 finals. Kerber lost for the 11th time in 18 finals.
Australia is the lucky place for Azarenka who won her first Brisbane title in 2009. Down Under she won two consecutive Australian Open titles in 2012 and 2013. She finished 2012 at the top of the ranking and 2013 in second place behind Serena Williams. Vika has won 35 of her last 39 matches in Australia since 2012.
She reached the Brisbane final in 2014 losing to Serena Williams but she was blighted by injury problems which forced her to miss five months of the season. Azarenka came back in 2015 when she reached the quarter finals at the Australian Open beating Caroline Wozniacki en route before losing to Dominika Cibulkova in three sets.
In Doha 2015 Azarenka scored three wins over top-20 players against Angelique Kerber, Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams before losing to Lucie Safarova in the final. At last September’s US Open she beat Lucie Hradecka, Yanina Wickmayer, Angelique Kerber and Varvara Lepchenko before losing to Simona Halep in three sets.
Azarenka lost just 13 games in her four matches en route to the final beating Elena Vesnina, Ysaline Bonaventure, US Open finalist Roberta Vinci and US qualifier Samantha Crawford..
Azarenka was accompanied by a young girl during the victory ceremony
“Congratulations to Angelique and thank you for pushing me. You always push my limits. I hope we get to play more matches soon and good luck for the rest of the year”, said Azarenka.
Angelique Kerber said during the post-match victory ceremony: “I would like to say congratulations to Vika. You have always been a tough opponent. I think it’s now 0-6. I hope next time you will give me a chance to win”.
