Can Victoria Azarenka conquer her second successive Grand Slam title? – Tennis Special
Reigning world number one, Victoria Azarenka, is most likely to maintain her intensity at the Roland Garros, second of the four Grand Slam events taking place in Paris, France. The Belarusian is on fire as she went on a 26-match killing spree from the start of the circuit. Her impressive run of form let her lift four titles on the hard courts.
Azarenka is enjoying her best season this year. She started her campaign standing at world number three and after clinching her maiden Grand Slam at the Australian Open, the Belarusian became the world number one.
The jubilant Belarusian carried her spark in the clay court season and secured two final berths before pulling out from the Internazionali D’Italia due to a shoulder injury. She crippled the Israeli number one, Shahar Peer with a breadstick before withdrawing against the 14th seed, Dominika Cibulkova, in the third round.
She started her clay court campaign at the Porsche Open where she overpowered the world number three, Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, to set up a date with the top Russian, Maria Sharapova, in the final showdown. Regardless of losing her final battle against the second seed, Azarenka gained confidence on clay and geared up for the Premier Mandatory event held in Madrid, Spain.
"Being in the final of such a tournament is a good achievement," Azarenka reflected. "It's disappointing to lose today but what can you do, it's done. Tomorrow another tournament starts and I have to think about the positive things and take the best out of this week.”
The Belarusian number one high-spiritedly entered the Mutua Madrid Open, a blue clay court event, and tumbled over the former world number two Svetlana Kuznetsova, Czech Republic’s Andrea Hlavackova and the top Serbian, Ana Ivanovic, in straight sets to breeze into the quarters. She lost the opener against the eighth seed, Li Na, but eventually triumphed over her. Azarenka then dumped the top Pole, Radwanska, again to enter the title-round. In spite of bowing out to the former world number one, Serena Williams, with a breadstick, the Belarusian gained a lot of confidence on dirt and is now ready for the French Open.
"I think Victoria is the player to beat," the American praised Azarenka. "She has won I don't know how many tournaments this year alone. That's an amazing amount. So if you look at the stats, you just have to put her up there as the player to beat.”
Apart from enjoying a perfect circuit on hard courts and displaying spectacular skills on dirt, Azarenka needs to raise the bar of her game against the top-10 players. Sharapova is bidding to snatch the top rank at the WTA Premier Rankings from the Belarusian and has re-ignited her 2005 spark. The William sisters on the other hand also sought their momentum and will also pose major threats to Azarenka’s top spot.
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