Victoria Azarenka eases past Angelique Kerber to reach the title match – BNP Paribas Open 2012
World number one, Victoria Azarenka, reached the title match of the BNP Paribas Open at the expense of the 19th ranked German, Angelique Kerber, on Friday. She plonked the left-handed contestant in straight sets 6-4,
6-3.
The Belarusian tennis icon took 88 minutes to trounce the German and registered the second head-to-head triumph over her in their second meeting at the professional level.
In a post-match interview, Azarenka was very complimentary towards her opponent. She stated, “I'm really impressed by the way Angelique was playing. It was the first time we played on the pro tour, so it was a little bit new for
me, and she showed some excellent tennis. I think she's a great player and she really pushed me to raise my level and really dig to win that match.”
Kerber also had some words to say at her semi-final exit from Indian Wells, she said, “I had some chances, but she's a great player. I think if I played my game and was being aggressive she would have made mistakes; but I was a
little bit defensive and she played her game and made winners.”
The match commenced with a breakthrough for the Belarusian, who was on a 21 match unbeaten run in 2012. She was pulled down in the fourth game, the German broke serve and tied the scores at 2-2. Both players kept on irritating
each other in the following games but couldn’t come on top with a breakpoint. Scores progressed to 4-4.
Kerber was going to serve the most crucial game of the set. She couldn’t absorb the pressure and lost serve game; donating a vital breakthrough to her opponent. The 22-years-old Belarusian clasped the first set with an easy serve
hold.
Kerber went one serve break down early in the second set but fought back to level the scores at 2-2. Both players swapped breakpoints with scores ticking over to 4-3 in favour of Azarenka. She held her serve and broke serve for
the fourth time in the set to book a date with the second seed Russian tennis ace, Maria Sharapova.
It will be a rematch of the Australian Open final.
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