Victoria Azarenka breezes past Pous-Tio to reach quarters at 2011 Andalucia Tennis Experience
Top seeded Victoria Azarenka breezed past Spanish Laura Pous-Tio 6-3, 6-2 on Thursday to book a quarterfinal berth at the 2011 Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella, Spain. Azarenka’s quarterfinal opponent will be former world
number one Dinara Safina, who is now playing better tennis but still not on top of her game.
Ranked 6th in the WTA rankings, Azarenka has often been criticized for her off-target serves but here on the red clay at Puente Romano Tennis Club, her serve was extremely accurate. Pous-Tio on the other hand started
well but loss in concentration resulted in a disaster for her. The Spaniard who eased past Polona Hercog 6-1, 6-2 in her opening match, had high hopes coming into this contest but faltered under pressure.
In the opening set, high quality tennis was displayed by the two contestants. The players got involved in several long rallies and fought hard for every available point. Azarenka made the first serve break to gain the physiological
advantage but Pous-Tio showed wonderful fighting spirit to break back in the very next game. Both players held on to their serve games until the eight game when Azarenka broke the serve once more to earn a crucial 5-3 lead. She then claimed the next game on
her serve with four straight points to lead the set score by 1-0.
The second set also followed a similar trend with Azarenka breaking the serve three times in the set. The 21-year-old Belarusian timed the tennis ball sweetly and achieved 70 per cent first serve conversion. Her powerful backhand
shots forced her opponent into making critical mistakes. Azarenka was superior in the serve return department as well claiming nearly 61 percent of the points on return.
Nineteen-year-old Azarenka made big news when she crushed former world number one Serena Williams 6-3, 6-1 in the final of 2009 Miami to lift first premier WTA title of her career. The Belarusian hasn’t look back since then and
moved up the rankings considerably with every passing season, reaching her career high of world number 6 in October 2009.
The year 2011 also started on a positive note for Azarenka, with a solid quarterfinal appearance at Sydney where she fell to the inform Kim Clijsters. Her next WTA stop was 2011 Australian Open where she reached the fourth round.
Just over a week ago she humbled 6-1, 6-4 times Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova at 2011 Sony Ericson Open to claim her sixth WTA triumph. The 21-year-old certainly continued her impressive form at the US $220,000 Andalucia Tennis Experience as she required
only 1 hour and 22 minutes dispatching her opponent.
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