Victoria Azarenka bullies her way back to dump Dominika Cibulkova – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
It was a complete replica of the third round battle of 2011 Sony Ericsson Open between Victoria Azarenka and Dominika Cibulkova to provide an absolute treat for the crowd present at the Tennis Center of Crandon Park in Miami, Florida.
The ballistic world number one, Azarenka, featured one of the most daring comebacks of the year so far to power down the 18th ranked Slovakian opponent in the fourth round of the mega event on Monday night.
The top seed Belarusian battled for two hours and 47 gruelling minutes to settle the final scores at 1-6, 7-6(7), 7-5, in her favour. Azarenka was outflanked in the opening set of the match to suffer an early loss. Cibulkova’s
explosive start to the contest earned her the first set with a breadstick and she went on to deliver the final death blow to the world number one in the second set. She was 4-0 up and threatening a major upset in the tournament but the class and superiority
of Azarenka had just begun at that stage.
The world number one Belarusian turned the tide over her aggressive opponent, dragging the second set into a tie-breaker and eventually winning it to make her way back in business. She then carried on with her usual belligerence
and assaulted Cibulkova in the decisive set to close out an emphatic victory in the end. These two contestants faced off at the same venue last year and Azarenka had to recover from a 3-6, 1-3 deficit to claim victory. It was even harder for her this time
round in Miami but the Belarusian proved her worth as the world’s best women tennis player at the moment.
"It kinda felt like she closed her eyes and just went for everything, and me, I couldn't open my eyes. I was blinded a little bit," Azarenka said. "But my coach came to the court, kicked me a little bit that I had to at least try
to change something, because it was like a snowball, and I kept rolling with the same match and wasn't adjusting. In the end I was trying to change something. But it was more about fighting in my heart today rather than any other shot. I definitely wasn't
thinking about the streak, that's for sure. "
Azarenka is now 26-0 in the 2012 WTA season and eyeing her fifth championship title on the trot. She will take on the seventh seed French, Marion Bartoli in the quarter-final round of the tournament.
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