Victoria Azarenka and Irina-Camelia Begu set up final clash at 2011 Andalucia Tennis Experience
World number six Victoria Azarenka secured a thumping 6-2, 6-1 victory over Italian Sara Errani to make it to the finals of 2011 Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella, Spain.
Azarenka required only 1 hour and 14 minutes dispatching her opponent in a match that proved to be very one sided. She broke the serve in the very first game of the match with four straight points. The Belarusian had another chance of making a serve break
in the sixth game of the set. She successfully converted a long rally in her favour to earn a significant 4-2 lead in the set.
The second set followed a similar pattern as well with Azarenka breaking the serve three times. The 2011 Miami Champion displayed brilliant baseline play which forced her opponent into making mistakes. Azarenka’s defence was admirable as she saved four out
five break points in the match.
Belarusian tennis star, Azarenka has been in decent form since the start of this season. She made it to the last eight at the 2011 Sydney to start the year with. A quarter-final appearance at the Prestigious 2011 BNP Paribas Open ensured her valuable Women’s
Tennis Association rankings points. However it was at the 2011 Sony Ericson Open where Azarenka really turned the tables. She defeated World Number two Kim Clijsters and number three seed Vera Zvonareva to set up a final meeting with former World Number one
Maria Sharapova. Azarenka crushed the three times Grand Slam Champion to lift sixth WTA title of her.
Azarenka has the ability to play her natural game under pressure. She sticks to her strengths and does not overcomplicate things. Considering her sensational form, she is the clear favourite to win the final on Sunday.
In the other semi-final Irina-Camelia Begu came back from a set deficit to upset Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 to book final clash with Victoria Azarenka.
Kuznetsova started the match on a positive note taking the first set comfortably 6-3. Begu fought back brilliantly in the following set that went into a tie-breaker. Begu claimed five successive points to dent her opponent’s confidence level.
Loss in concentration resulted in a disaster for the Kuznetsova in the final set. The Russian tennis-pro was leading the score-line by 3-1. However the 20-year-old Begu regrouped herself and came up with a special performance to take the set 6-4 and complete
a deserving victory.
This will be the first WTA final appearance for the 20-year-old Begu, who has achieved considerable results on the ITF Circuit. Ranked 138th in the world, Begu will be hoping to improve her WTA rankings by winning her first title at the US $220,000
Marbella tennis competition.
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