2011 Sony Ericsson Open WTA Part 8: Victoria Azarenka
World Number 8 Victoria Azarenka
Victoria Azarenka is currently the world’s highest ranked Belarusian tennis player, entering the Women’s Tennis Association rankings at World Number 8. The player, who currently resides in Scottsdale, has been part of the WTA since
2003. She is 22 years old, and has spent almost eight years as a professional tennis player.
Azarenka’s highest career ranking so far is World Number 6, a position she managed to reach in 2009. She has won two doubles titles at Grand Slam tournaments, in addition to which she has made it to the quarterfinals of the Grand
Slam singles events. Azarenka has a total of five WTA titles, including the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open title.
The Belarusian pro is famous for her aggressive baseline play, as well as her powerful backhand. Her worst shot, however, is her serve. It is the one shot on which she lacks power. Along with this, her forehand was also the culprit
behind many of her losses. However, she has improved this shot considerably over the past few years. One more weakness of hers is her movement, as she lacks speed and faces trouble when the need to sprint across the court arises.
Azarenka made a formidable debut at the Miami event, taking part as a qualifier just three years after turning pro. She was ranked World Number 102 at the time, and made it into the main draw to meet Spanish player Laura Pous-Tio
in the first round. She upset the player in straight sets to make it to the third round, where she faced Jelena Jankovic. The pro was seeded twenty-fifth at the tournament, but Azarenka had almost no trouble overcoming her in straight sets to make it to the
third round. She fell to tenth seed Anastasia Myskina.
Victoria Azarenka first made a splash at the Sony Ericsson Open in 2009, when she was ranked World Number 10. Seeded eleventh at Miami, she received a bye in the first round to face Russian pro Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second
round. She went on to the next round, and defeated players Anna Chakvetadze, Agnes Szavay, Australian Samantha Stosur, eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and World Number 1 Serena Williams over the course of the tournament to win her first Sony Ericsson Open
title.
Unfortunately, Azarenka was unable to defend her title in the next year. She was seeded fourth at the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, and received a bye in the first round yet again. Her first two opponents were Alexandra Dulgheru of
Romania and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic. Although she defeated both these players in straight sets, she could not make it past the fourth round against fourteenth seed Kim Clijsters.
She is seeded eighth at the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open, and has made it to the fourth round against twenty-fifth seed Dominika Cibulkova.
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