Victoria Azarenka belligerent as ever; slays Alize Cornet in the opener – China Open 2012
Reigning world number one, Victoria Azarenka, displayed her belligerence yet another time to annihilate the French contender, Alize Cornet, in the opening round of the China Open. The top seeded Belarusian took barely 66 minutes
to post an assertive score of 6-1, 6-0, on the hard courts of Beijing.
It was already expected from Azarenka to ease through the opener of the WTA Premier Series event but the 43rd ranked French youngster was anticipated to put forth a better performance. 22-year-old Cornet had earned 41
victories in the current season, along with a WTA championship title under her belt. She couldn’t perform her heroics against the aggression of the world number one and could bag merely one game in the entire match.
Azarenka was facing the Frenchwoman for the first time in her professional career and took no time to get under her skin. She dropped her opening serve right away, hinting a sloppy start, but it was the only game Cornet could pocket.
Her early strike ignited the rage mode in Azarenka and she absolutely blasted her way past her, breaking Cornet in her every serve game en route to victory.
The top seeded Belarusian exhibited phenomenal serve game, delivering 81 per cent of the first serve on target and brilliantly winning 28 out of 42 points on it. She was equally exquisite with her return game and secured 13 out
of 20 first return points to drive her opponent out of the tournament. Azarenka crafted a total of 10 break opportunities in the contest and converted six of them.
Cornet had her chances in the match but couldn’t cash them in time. She frittered away seven priceless break points in the entire contest, converting merely one, to finish on the losing side in the end. She kept coughing unforced
errors throughout the match, letting Azarenka to reel off 12 games on the trot to come out as the dominant winner.
Azarenka will take on the Germany beauty queen, Sabine Lisicki, in the second round of the China Open. Unseeded Lisicki had to dig deep against Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, in the opening round of the tournament.
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