AZARENKA MAKES IT THROUGH

Victoria Azarenka was the first player to make it through to the women’s quarter finals at this year’s Australian Open, and she did so in some style.

Her match against Iveta Benisova was over in two sets, the Belarusian winning easily 6-2, 6-2. The next opponent she faces will be Radwanska, who will present a tougher challenge, and Azarenka would do well to continue her record of not dropping a set in the tournament so far.

The match against the Czech Benisova took just 78 minutes as Azarenka swiftly took control and continued her dominance into the second set. The third seed made the most of her service games, winning 83% of points on her first serve, and a solid 63% on her second, and then secured four of ten break points, to give her an easy victory.

The quarterfinals will see Azarenka take on the number 8 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who thrashed Goerges 6-1,6-1 in the last round. This should prove to be a competitive affair with both players on form, and when they met recently at Sydney, the game went to the third set before Azarenka scraped through to victory. Radwanska will also be aware that head to head, she is at a disadvantage, with just 3 wins to the Belarusian’s 6.

Another factor that Victoria Azarenka will being doing her best not to think too much on is the possibility of taking Wozniacki’s number one spot in the world, should results go in her favour.

Azarenka’s focus must stay on the game at hand, if she is to achieve success in the tournament, as she knows only too well – even if she is one of the favourites according to the best tennis betting online odds.

“I would be a liar if I said I didn’t care about it,” she said. “It’s in the back of my head and we’ll take it day by day, I guess.”