Victoria Azarenka slides past Anna Tatishvili into the quarter-finals – US Open 2012
World number one, Victoria Azarenka, busted away the 73rd ranked Georgian star, Anna Tatishvili, in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, to reach the quarter-final stage of the US Open Championship at New York.
On Sunday, the two players locked horns for the first time in their professional career but they had played each other in the juniors Wimbledon Championships in June 2005 and the Belarusian had won that match deep in three sets.
The 23-year-old Belarusian was absolutely thrilling at the centre court of New York; completely bashing her opponent and wasting no opportunity at all throughout the contest.
The comments from the Belarusian at the end of the match were, “The shuffle actually came from tennis. I don't know if you guys know, but it comes from the split step and the recover. When you hit a forehand and cross over. That's
really what I'm looking for. I'm looking for the footwork, to see who I'm going to put in my next video. Honestly, that's why I'm here. It's going to be kind of like an audition.”
The 22-year-old Georgian was put under pressure right from the word go. Azarenka broke serve in the first game of the match and continued to impress with a comfortable serve hold. A swap of breakpoints kept her lead intact and
another breakthrough in the seventh game allowed her to mount a lead of 5-2. She was under the cosh in the final game of the first set but did well to hang on and save a couple of breakpoints before posting a serve hold.
The second set was swinging back and fourth after every game. First five games went by without a single serve hold and it looked like no one will manage to hold on but finally it was the reigning world number one who broke the
momentum and registered the first serve hold of the set. She led the scores 4-2 at that stage and the failure of her rival to hold serve helped her to built a resounding lead of 5-2.
Azarenka bagged the final serve with ease and booked a date against the defending champion, Samantha Stosur.
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