Victoria Azarenka gusts away Mona Barthel in her first match – Qatar Total Open 2012
New world number one, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, blasted her way through the upcoming German tennis star, Mona Barthel, in the second round clash of the Qatar Total Open on Wednesday afternoon. The belligerent top seed wrapped
up an authoritative victory in 60 minutes, dumping the world number 39 in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0, to advance into the third round of the $2,168,400 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier-level tournament.
It was Azarenka’s first match since becoming the world number one in women’s rankings and she proved her dominance once again to reign supreme over the inferior-ranked German. The Belarusian took off her campaign in Qatar, Doha,
right from where she left in Melbourne after winning the coveted Australian Open title. She appeared absolutely unplayable throughout the match and gave no chance to Barthel to have any sort of impact on the game.
Azarenka faced Barthel in the third round of the Australian Open last month and ousted her 6-2, 6-4, eventually winning the Grand Slam title. She registered her second victory against the German rising star but this time with more
authority and aggression. Azarenka spared merely one game for Barthel in the entire matchup and nailed seven cracking serve breaks to drive her out of the tournament. Although the top seed struggled with her serve accuracy in the contest, her vital break points
proved to be the differentiating factor in the match.
"You can never say the match was easy, because no matter what the score is you still have to put a lot of effort," declared the world number one after registering her victory. "Also, to win easy sometimes takes more effort than
if you stayed there for a longer period of time. But I'm just happy the way I played and am taking it match by match. Whoever is in the draw is in the draw. I have to play against them. I'm not scared and I don't run away from my opponents. I go out there
and face them."
Azarenka is un beaten in the current WTA season, winning 13 matches on the trot and bagging two championship titles. She took off the new season with an emphatic victory in the final of Sydney International and then clinched the
Grand Slam Down Under to claim the top spot in the world rankings. The top seed Belarusian is the hot favourite for winning the star-studded event in Qatar as well and will face Romania’s Simona Halep in the third round draw later this week.
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