Victoria Azarenka slays Simona Halep to cruise into the quarters – Qatar Total Open 2012
World number one, Victoria Azarenka, continued her unbeaten run this year with a victory against the 63rd ranked Romanian, Simona Halep, in the third round of Qatar Total Open. She ousted her in straight sets 6-3, 6-1
in just over an hour and 20 minutes, booking a spot in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Both the players were facing-off for the first time and Azarenka had to adjust a little bit. She stated, "I never played her before, so I was adjusting a little bit to her game style and I don't think I really played the right
way those first, like, three games, four games. But then I started to get my rhythm more and, you know, putting more pressure on.''
Successive serve holds at both ends were witnessed at the start with scores ticking over to 1-1. The Belarusian tennis ace started the second serve game with a thumping ace but lost the following three points; allotting an opportunity
to her opponent to break her serve. Halep didn’t waste a crucial point and registered the first breakpoint of the match.
Azarenka is famous to make a nervy start to the match; just like she did against Sharapova in the final of the Australian Open but then she transforms into a sublime timer of the ball. She did the same in this match and devastated
Halep in the following games; winning a break back and levelling the scores at 3-3. She was cruising away with some eye-startling stroke play; screams were getting louder and louder with points raining for the Belarusian.
She continued to dominate the proceedings and broke serve in the eighth game that pulled curtains for the Romanian, who had a competitive start to the contest. Her unbeaten run of 13 games is prolonged to 14 with this triumph and
everyone still awaits the first player who will bring down the newly ranked world number one.
The second set was almost a bagel for the Belarusian before Halep broke her serve in the sixth game and registered the only successful game of the set. Azarenka completely thrashed the Romanian to all corners of the courts. It
was just like we witnessed the final of the Australian Open with Maria Sharapova replaced by Halep. Nothing can stop the Belarusian at the moment. She is going through the best phase of her career.
Azarenka takes on Yanina Wickmayer in the quarter-final in Doha.
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