Victoria Azarenka subjugates Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the semi-final – Australian Open 2013
World number one, Victoria Azarenka, settled the scores with the 75th ranked Russian, Svetlana Kuznetsova, by handing her the fourth head-to-head loss at the quarter-final of the Australian Open on Wednesday. She defeated
the 27-year-old Russian in straight sets 7-5, 6-1 taking an hour and 47 minutes.
In a post-match interview, Azarenka said, “I think we were both producing good tennis. But I felt like she was a little bit on top of me on the important moments. Then I turned it around and I took control in my hands and it was
more up to me. I felt like was a turning point mentally and physically.”
She further added, “I think you cannot expect to have your best tennis on every single point, on every single game. But it’s important to know that when you need it, it’s there and you can rely on it. That’s what gives you confidence.”
Satisfied by her overall progress, Kuznetsova confessed, “I feel like I have game. I can play.”
Kuznetsova was put under the woods from the word go. She saved the first game that featured four deuces but couldn’t deny her opponent from winning the longest battle of the match consisting of nine consecutive deuces. However,
she figured a way out to level the scores by breaking her rival’s serve in the seventh game.
The battle marched on smoothly with both players capitalizing on their serves until the 11th game of the match that allotted a critical breakthrough to the 23-year-old Belarusian who came on top of her rival after saving
two breakpoints in the following game.
The entertaining first set took 77 minutes to separate the two players and the similar battle was expected to follow but the onslaught of the defending champion at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne took her to a mounting lead of
4-1. She was on the verge of losing a serve game to Kuznetsova in the sixth game but fought her way back to post a stupendous lead of 5-1 on her.
Kuznetsova was unable to absorb the pressure and gifted away another breakpoint to her rival in the seventh game that rounded of the one-sided second set show in just 30 minutes. It was a strong finish from the Belarusian who will
have to face a 19-year-old American star, Sloane Stephens, in the semi-final of the event.
Stephens registered a majestic upset against her compatriot Serena Williams earlier in the day.
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