2011 Mutua Madrid Open: Victoria Azarenka vs. Julia Goerges – Semi-final Preview
Saturday noon’s first semi-final clash of Mutua Madrid Open features the world number five, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, competing against the 27th ranked Julia Goerges of Germany. The competition will be held at Park
Manzanares in Madrid, Spain, with the two women battling it out to have a spot in the final of the $4,500,000 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) clay-court tournament.
The fourth seeded Belarusian has been in a blistering form throughout the Madrid Open, winning her initial round matches on assertive notes. Azarenka accomplished straight sets victories in her opening round matches, dropping a
total of just five games in three matches. She had to labour a bit harder in the quarter-final clash against the Czech opponent, Lucie Safarova, settling the final score at 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, to make it to the last four.
The unseeded German, Goerges has been lingering around in the tournament, winning three of her initial round matches in the third set. She stunned the tennis world when she defeated the hot favourite, world number one, Caroline
Wozniacki of Denmark, in the third round of the tournament. The German further surprised everyone by ousting the 21st ranked Russian, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, in the round of eight to meet Azarenka in the semis of the Madrid Open.
Stiff contest is anticipated among the two quality tennis players in the semi-final, as they both appear to be in a magnificent form. Azarenka and Goerges had already faced each other last month on the clay courts of Stuttgart,
where the German stood victorious in the curtailed version of the game. Azarenka bagged the first set 6-4 but had to retire due to a hip injury before the start of the second set, bestowing victory to Goerges. That was the only encounter both women have had
against each other and their might be some psychological pressure over the German opponent, as she nearly got defeated at the hands of the Belarusian.
Azarenka has produced some remarkable feats this year, which propelled her to her career best ranking of world number five. She surprised everyone by defeating the world number two Kim Clijsters in the quarter-finals of Sony Ericsson
Open. She then outplayed world number three Vera Zvonareva of Russia in the semi-final and kept her momentum to defeat the former world number one, Maria Sharapova to bag her first WTA title of the running year. Azarenka’s brilliant run continued at Marbella,
as she clinched her second championship title by defeating Irina-Camelia Begu in the final.
Goerges gave a shocker two weeks ago by accomplishing her biggest win ever, defeating the reigning world number one, Wozniacki in the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix at Stuttgart, Germany. This title victory over the top
ranked player will certainly lift her courage to take down Azarenka in the semis of the Madrid Open. It will be a tough battle for Goerges to hunt down the world number five but she certainly is capable of doing so. Having an overall view, Azarenka seems to
have a slight edge over the German in the game and could be the possible winner in the semi-final at Madrid.
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