Victoria Azarenka unstoppable in Beijing; books a berth in the quarter-finals – Tennis News
World number one, Victoria Azarenka, continued with her stampede on the hard courts of Beijing and charged into the quarter-final round of the China Open on Thursday. The belligerent Belarusian put aside the bleak resistance from
the Russian qualifier, Elena Vesnina, in twin sets, 6-3, 6-3, in the third round’s play.
Top seeded Azarenka came to Beijing as the hot favourite for winning the WTA Premier Series event and her run so far clearly depicts her intend to bag her fifth championship title of the running season. She hasn’t dropped a single
set en route to the quarter-final, annihilating her every opponent in straight sets to assert her dominance.
The 23-year-old Belarusian took off her China Open campaign with her typical aggression, brushing aside the unseeded French contender, Alize Cornet, 6-1, 6-0. She later went on to dispose of the German beauty queen, Sabine Lisicki,
6-4, 6-2, in the second round, before hunting down Vesnina on Thursday. Azarenka was ballistic as ever against the Russian qualifier and her mighty forehand worked perfectly for her throughout the contest. She coupled her hard-line onslaught with a solid baseline
defence, allowing Vesnina to register merely one serve break, while she nailed four out of nine cracking ones.
Vesnina was facing the world number one for the third time in her professional career and Thursday’s result was not any different from the prior two encounters. She suffered straight sets defeats at the hands of Azarenka in 2007
and 2009 respectively, and extended her head-to-head lead to 3-0 this week.
Azarenka will take on the surprise contender from Switzerland, Romina Oprandi, in the quarter-final round of the China Open. The unseeded Swiss stunned the former world number one, Ana Ivanovic, 6-4, 6-3, to earn the lime light
and is eyeing for another thrilling performance in the round of eight on Friday.
Apparently, Oprandi stands no chance against the world’s top player in her next encounter but upsets do happen in tennis. Her triumph over Ivanovic surely raised her confidence to a whole new level but Azarenka has been in her
finest form this year. The Belarusian is expected to register another straight sets victory over Oprandi in the quarter-finals.
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