Victoria Azarenka battled her way into the last eight of the WTA Brisbane International after defeating lucky loser Ysaline Bonaventure 6-2, 6-3.
The match wasn’t a straightforward task for the two-time Australian Open champion after she dropped her serve in the first game of the match before trailing 2-0 to the world No.170. Azarenka found a way to break back during a titanic fourth game which consisted of 11 deuces. After failing four times in the game to convert a break point, she was successful on her fifth attempt. The danger was still not over as Azarenka fended off four break points in the following game to move ahead for the first time in the match. Another break in the eighth game aided Azarenka to eventually take the first set after almost an hour.
The second set was a dramatic contrast to the first regarding Azarenka’s service consistency. The world No.22 dropped just one point on her serve as she dominated the second set to book her place in the last eight.
Awaiting Azarenka in the next round will be Italy’s Roberta Vinci. Vinci, who reached the final of the US Open last year, looked impressive during her win over Dominika Cibulkova on Tuesday. Looking ahead to the match, Azarenka admitted that Vinci will be a dangerous opponent.
“Obviously she’s been playing really well and showing some great results,” Azarenka said.
“I think you can see improvement in her game.”
In other matches, a shock occurred when American qualified Samantha Crawford edged out Swiss seventh seed Belinda Bencic 7-5, 7-5. Crawford had 13 break point opportunities against Bencic but could only convert three of them. Nevertheless, the world No.142 took advantage of Bencic’s fragile second serve. The Swiss won only 39% of her second serves (12/31).
The next task for the American qualified will be against Germany’s Andrea Petkovic. Petkovic endured two close sets during her 6-4, 7-5, win over Ekaterina Makarova. Looking ahead to the match, Petkovic admitted that it will be unfamiliar territory match for her.
“I don’t know anything — it’s going to be classic YouTube stalking from my side,” she said.
“I don’t know if I’m going to find a lot, but she must be playing tremendously well to beat Bencic and win three qualifying rounds.”
Finally, fourth seed Angelique Kerber required 61 minutes to defeat Madison Brengle 6-3, 6-0.
