Caroline Wozniacki vs Victoria Azarenka Quarterfinal Clash at BNP Paribas Open – Preview
World number one Caroline Wozniacki will take on Belarusian star Victoria Azarenka on Thursday in an exciting quarterfinal at 2011 BNP Paribas Open in California.
The Dane has looked in supreme touch at the Women’s Tennis Association tournament. She came back from a set deficit against Alisa Kleybanova 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 to set up quarterfinal battle with her close friend Azarenka. She was broken twice in the first but she played marvelous tennis in the next two sets to pull things back.
After her match with Kleybanova, Wozniacki said, “It was a tough match. I think I made a little bit too many unforced errors in the beginning. She started well, she started aggressively, but I just couldn’t find my rhythm out there.
“Then second set I just told myself I needed to move my feet a little bit more. I need to have a little bit more margin over the net and from the lines, and things started to go my way a little bit more and I started to play better.”
Wozniacki fell out at the Australian Open semifinal earlier this year to lose her WTA's world number one ranking to Belgian Kim Clijsters. However she regained the number one spot by beating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the finals of Dubai Duty Free. She then reached the finals at Qatar Ladies Open the very next week to prove that she is in great physical condition.
The two players have faced each other on six previous occasions with Wozniacki leading the head to head 4-2. Azarenka defeated the Dane in 2009 Memphis and 2009 Rome in straight sets whereas Wozniacki has certainly enjoyed more success in recent times winning their last two tight meetings. She will be eager to extend her winning streak against Azarenka.
Azarenka, on the other hand, saved four match points against Radwanska to emerge victorious in a battle lasting for more than 3 hours and 4 minutes. The 21 year old Belarusian used her famous backhand shot to great effect and was able to find her game just before it was too late. She would have taken a lot of confidence from that game and will be hoping to put up a similar kind of performance for a place in semifinals.
Prediction: Although, Azarenka is a top class player and has 5 WTA titles to her name, she will have to dig really deep if she wants to stand a chance against the Dane. Wozniacki has won 13 WTA titles in her career and has looked in devastating mood at Indian Wells. She is expected to pull off a win in three sets considering her recent form.
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