Victoria Azarenka effortlessly wraps up quarterfinal against Galina Voskoboeva – Rogers Cup 2011
In a match rife with intense activity and a frenzied exchange of breakpoints, fourth seed Victoria Azarenka wrapped up an effortlessly conceived win against the high flying qualifier Galina Voskoboeva. Russia’s Azarenka
won Friday’s one hour ten minutes long quarter final in two straight sets 6-1, 6-2. Azarenka now leads the top seeds into the top-four round at Rogers Cup, Toronto.
World No.4 Azarenka’s career is on an all time high, with dramatic improvements in her rankings during the current season. Azarenka opened the year with resounding performances in Australia, reaching the quarterfinal at
Sydney and the fourth round at the Australian Open. She increased her tally of singles ATP titles to an impressive seven by winning tournaments at Miami and Marbella and advanced to her current career highest ranking from No. 6 in April this year. The athlete
had managed to reach her first grand slam semi final at Wimbledon 2011 and has won the doubles title at Stanford recently. Azarenka’s campaign in Toronto has been effortless till far; she breezed through her second and third round matches in two sets each
against Martinez Sanchez and Dubois.
Kazakh Voskoboeva ranked currently at No. 135 has had a hugely successful spell at Rogers Cup this year. Qualifying for the main draws at the prestigious tournament, she made way to the quarterfinals by first dismissing
Flavia Pennetta and then staging an emphatic win against a bewildered star fifth seed Maria Sharapova. Lacking even a single ATP title to her name, Voskoboeva surely stunned everyone by her successful run up to the quarter finals. "It's one week,"
Azarenka said of Voskoboeva. "But if she can do that on a consistent basis, she will be up (in the) top 10."
Prior to coming into the tournament, the two players’ head to head rankings stood balanced at 1-1. They had met each other twice before, back in 2005, with Azarenka winning 6-4, 6-0 in Guangzhou and Voskoboeva taking the
lead 6-3, 7-5 at Kolkata.
The action packed first set saw Voskoboeva’s opening game being cut short by Azarenka, setting the tone for rest of the match. Azarenka established a confident and sturdy lead by registering another devastating break of
serve in the third game, leaving his crippled opponent trailing 4-0. The Russian served excellently at 77% and won 24 points from his 34 serves. The set ended smoothly in Azarenka’s account at 6-1, with the Kazakh breaking his opponent’s serve once while Azarenka
powered through by registering another 2 serve breaks in the agitated last games.
The second set followed precedent and closed at 6-2 squarely in Azarenka’s account, with Voskoboeva struggling vainly to gain even a foothold in the match. The Russian improved his service in this set, managing to connect
an incredible 82% serves in stark contrast to his opponent’s 57%. While not facing even a single breakpoint situation himself, Azarenka closed the second set in prolific style by breaking his opponent’s serve for the second time in the set’s last game.
Azarenka’s next match at the prestigious Rogers Cup, the semi final, is scheduled against fan favourite Serena Williams. Unseeded, former World No. 1 Williams is dead set on the comeback trail after a lengthy layoff due
to injury, struggled ahead of Lucie Safarova in three sets at the quarterfinal.
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