Victoria Azarenka overcomes Agnieszka Radwanska to reach the quarterfinal of the BNP Paribas Open
Belarusian star Victoria Azarenka defeated Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) in a thrilling three setter on Tuesday to book a place in the quarterfinals of 2011 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California.
An exciting clash was observed between world number 9 Azarenka and world number 10 Radwanska. The contest proved to be a battle of nerves and courage as both players refused to give up in a match that lasted almost 3 hours and
4 minutes.
The 22 year old Radwanska took advantage of her superior serve in the first set and made crucial serve breaks to get the physiological advantage early on. She made the opponent run for her money as she used her forehands and backhands
effectively.
However, the Belarusian staged an exceptional comeback in the second set. Despite being under immense pressure, she fought back bravely to level the set score 1-1. Azarenka played aggressively from the baseline and created difficult
angles for the challenger to cope with.
The decider proved to be a nail biter as well and was pushed into a tie-breaker. Both players exchanged serve breaks and suffered heavy blows during the set. But Azarenka, who is known for her strong backhand, sent one wide of
Radwanska to complete an emphatic win over her arch rival.
The 21 year Azarenka, who was once ranked as high as world number 6, has been criticized heavily for her weak serve. Although she managed to land a satisfactory 62 per cent on her first serve winning 63 per cent on it, she certainly
had problems with the serve accuracy producing 11 double faults in the match. She managed only a mere 31 per cent points on her weak second serve thus allowing Radwanska to find a way back into the match. However the world number 9 had a strong defense as
she saved 6 crucial break points in the match which played a vital role in deciding the outcome.
Seeded 8th here, Azarenka received a bye into the second round where she face Ekaterina Makarova. Defeating her in straight sets Azarenka moved on ahead to play Agnieszka’s younger sister, Urszula. Successfully doing
away with both Radwanska sisters, Azarenka now makes her way into the quarterfinals.
Azarenka will now take on world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals on Thursday, but she will have try and bring more improvement in her weak serve if she wants to break a player of Wozniacki’s caliber. Radwanska
on the other hand was gutted with herself as she made quite a few unforced errors and let the opportunity slip away. She will be hoping for a strong appearance when she returns to the Women’s Tennis Association tour.
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