Victoria Azarenka breezes past Julia Goerges into final match – Luxembourg Open 2011
Top seeded Belarusian Victoria Azarenka eased past Julia Goerges of Germany in straight sets at the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open 2011, a WTA International event taking place on the indoor hard courts in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.
She registered a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the Bad Oldesloe native, Goerges to reach the title round on Saturday.
In an hour and fifteen minutes long match between two 22-year-old stars, the tournament’s top player and the world number three, Azarenka showed exceptional skills to stomp over the German, ranked eighteen places below her, on
their third duel. She not only took lead in the head-to-head series by 2-1 against Goerges but also inched towards her third year-to-date WTA title.
Azarenka made quick in-roads as she got the first blood in the third game of the opening set and went 2-1 up. Despite squaring the scores at 3-3 in the sixth game, the Belarusian number one went into savage mode to wipe out last
three games in a row and clinched the set with a 6-3 score line.
The 5’10” Belarusian carried her momentum form the first set to the final set and reeled off opening three games consecutively. Regardless of losing her edge in the fifth game, she broke the German’s serve again in the eighth game
and then held her serve in the following game to seal the victory by winning six games to three.
Overall, Azarenka spilled more errors and saved seven out of nine breakpoints came across. However, she capitalised on five out of nine breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to secure this win.
"It was a long wait today - the girls before played really long!" Azarenka said. "I knew Julia would give me a tough battle and there were a lot of close games. I'm glad I was focused during the important moments and was able to
win."
"It wasn't too bad, but Vika was too solid for me today," Goerges said. "My energy wasn't good for the whole match… she's too consistent for that, she's a top player. You have to be more consistent. That's why I lost three and
three."
The highest ranked player of the tournament, Azarenka will lock horns with Romania’s Monica Niculescu, who pulled out a victory in a tipsy turvy three setter match in almost three hours against British qualifier Anne Keothavong.
Azarenka said of Niculescu, "she's a very big fighter and I know it will be tough, but I'm really looking forward to the challenge tomorrow."
The Belarusian leads Niculescu 3-0 in the head-to-head series and can take all the glory in Luxembourg if she plays her original game.
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