Quarterfinal Preview: Victoria Azarenka vs Li Na – French Open 2011
World number four Victoria Azarenka will face Chinese challenge Li Na on Wednesday for a semi-final place at the 2011 French Open. Azarenka is seeded fourth whereas Li Na is the sixth seed at the prestigious Women’s Tennis Association
tournament.
Li Na has given significant results on the WTA tour since the start of this season. Her best performance by far was her finals run at the year’s first Grand Slam at the Australian Open where she fell to Belgian Kim Clijsters.
Coming to her form at the French Open, the Chinese had to fight hard for a place in the second round as she earned a hard fought victory over Czech Barbora Zhalavova Strycova in her opening match in Paris. In the second round play,
she looked more comfortable and crushed Spaniard Silvia Soler-Espinosa in straight sets. Sorana Cristea became her third round victim as Li Na looked on top of her game. Looking full of confidence and self-belief in her fourth round match-up against Petra
Kvitova, she came back from a set deficit to book her place in the last eight.
"If I win in the fourth round, what should I say?" asked Li, who has now reached the last eight at all four Grand Slams.
"(That) I played bad tennis? I don't think so. I've tried to keep the same level as Melbourne, or even better. I didn't like clay courts, but I'm still in the quarter-finals."
Azarenka on the other hand has gotten better with every match she has played in this season. Having done poorly at the Australian Open, the Belarusian sensation lifted her spirits and claimed her sixth WTA title at 2011 Sony Ericsson
Open. On the clay courts of Madrid, she reached the final and rose to world number four in the rankings. She has dominated her opponents in all of her matches at the French Open and is yet to drop a set. She will certainly fancy her chances of progressing
far here in Paris.
Li leads the head-to-head record against Azarenka 3-1 and clinched a straight sets victory against the Belarusian in their most recent meeting in the fourth round of Australian Open. However, a lot has been changed since then as
Azarenka is playing at an entirely new level.
"I'm in a different chapter of my career," said Azarenka.
"It's going to be a different quarter-final for me. But I'm feeling really confident and I'm really looking forward to it."
The Chinese has a great foot work and strong backhands which she can use against her rival whereas Azarenka will be relying mainly on her ferocious forehand winners. Considering the playing style of these two players, the encounter
is expected to be filled with long baseline rallies.
Prediction: Victoria Azarenka is expected to emerge as the victor in three tight sets.
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