Victoria Azarenka breezes past Svetlana Kuznetsova at the BNP Paribas Open 2012: Tennis Special
World number one, Victoria Azarenka, devastated the Russian star, Svetlana Kuznetsova, with a breadstick at the BNP Paribas Open 2012 on Sunday. She joggled up a 6-1, 6-2 victory over the Dubai resident to book a spot in the fourth round at this Premier
Mandatory event taking place in Indian Wells, United States.
After losing her last four battles against the veteran, Azarenka finally outgunned the Russian in an hour-long marathon at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. After pocketing this match, she not only lowered the trail in the head-to-head series by 2-4 but also
improved to 19-0 win-loss record, levelling to the best start on the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Tour since Maria Sharapova four years ago.
The Belarusian number one made a shaky entry at this hard court and suffered the first blow in the opening game. However, she made a fitting reply after that and went on a six-game killing spree, ultimately pulling out the opener with a superb 6-1 success.
Eyeing for her fourth title of the season at this event, Azarenka kept her momentum rolling into the following set and held her serve in the second game to tie the scores at 1-1. After the 26-year-old held her serve in the third game, the Belarusian unleashed
her skills once more and wiped out the proceeding five games in a row to seal the set with a 6-2 win.
The Russian cashed in the only break chance to her advantage but lost her serve five times to suffer this shock. She committed fewer unforced errors and double faults but failed to capitalise on it. Kuznetsova clobbered an acceptable first serve share of
59 per cent as compared to the Belarusian’s 62 per cent. However, she availed only 13 out of 26 points on it.
"I knew she was going to be dangerous," the Belarusian said about her rival. "I know Svetlana pretty well. We've practiced quite a few times and she has so much experience. She's a Grand Slam winner. I really had to step it up from my last match."
Azarenka, who recently won her first Grand Slam at the Australian Open, will square off against the ultra-fit German, Julia Goerges.
The 14th seeded German commented about her match-up, “Vika's a tough player and recently won her first Grand Slam, and hasn't lost a match so far this year. I'll just try to focus on my game and playing my game, and we'll see how far it brings
me."
Goerges eased past the 24th seed, Anabel Medina Garrigues, in straight sets to secure this spot. She broke the Spaniard’s serve four times to finish the match with a 6-3, 6-4 score line in 100 minutes.
The top seed is eying to perfect her game in order to tumble over Goerges easily. She needs to play her original game and commit fewer double faults in order to crush the German and advance into the quarter-finals.
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