Azarenka eases past Radwanska to reach the round of 16 at 2011 BNP Paribas Open
World number 9, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus outplayed Urszula Radwanska to reach the fourth round at the 2011 BNP Paribas Open in California.
The first set was played on an extremely competitive note as both players tried to get the advantage early on. Radwanska, who is fairly new to the international singles arena, executed her plan to great success as she pushed the
set into a tie-breaker. However the Belarusian stood her ground and clinched the tie-breaker with a superb backhand winner to lead the set score 1-0.
The 21 year old Azarenka then carried on with the same momentum in the second and final set as well and completed a thumping 7-6, 6-3 victory over the Polish in a match that lasted for 1 hour and 59 minutes.
Azarenka converted 67 percent of the points on her first serve and was certainly the superior of the two players in the serve return, achieving 48 per cent conversion. She created a number of opportunities in the contest with her
strong ground strokes and attacking strategy. However she struggled to penetrate her opponent’s game regularly converting only 4 of the 12 break chances she created. She would be hoping to bring improvement in this area of the game before her next match.
Azarenka had a satisfactory start to the season. She reached the quarterfinals at Sydney and then continued her good form at the 2011 Australian Open as well where she reached the fourth round losing to the finalist Li Na of China.
She then returned to the tour at Dubai Duty making it to the third round and then fell in the first round of Qatar ladies Open. Azarenka, who was once ranked as high as world number six, has not been able to win a Women’s Tennis Association tournament since
her triumph at Moscow in early 2010. The critics have slammed Azarenka for her weak serve in the past and she would be eager to correct her errors so that she can stand a better chance of winning against other top seeded players like Caroline Wozniacki and
Kim Clijsters.
On the other hand the young Polish Radwanska tried her best to snatch another victory at this prestigious ATP Masters 1000 tournament. She played pretty good tennis in her opening two matches and was hoping for a career breakthrough
against a top 10 player but the moment belonged to the Belarusian who outclassed her with some crafty tennis. With this win Azarenka has also set up a meeting with Urszula’s older sister and world number 10, Agnieszka Radwanska in the fourth round.
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