Posts tagged: Australian Open

THE ROAD TO GREATNESS

Victoria Azarenka is considered to be the Number 1 professional tennis player as of April 16,2012. Azarenka has crazy tennis skills and has come a very long way to reach this position. Not only did Azarenka win the 2012 Australia Open but also became the first Belarusian player to win a singles Grand Slam (having prviously won titles in doubels at the the 2007 US Open with Max Miryne and the 2008 French Open with Bob Bryan.)

Azarenka moved to Arizona where she was trained by the National Hockey League goalie Nikolai Khabibulin and his wife. She took a break for a while from tennis to focus on education; however after the death of the grandmother she focused back on sports.

Her year has started with a bang, with Azarenka winning the first title of the season at the 2012 Apia International Sydney. She won the first four matches with ease, defeating her first four opponents Heather Watson, Cassey, Mona Barthel, and Iveta Benesova.

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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.

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