Victoria Azarenka withdraws; Serena Williams through to the Brisbane final – Tennis News
Sheer disappointment for tennis fans, who were anticipating a cracking semi-final clash between two of the world’s best tennis performers on Saturday, as the reigning world number one, Victoria Azarenka, pulled out of the match
due to injury. She was to go one-on-one against the American powerhouse, Serena Williams, in the semi-final round of Brisbane International but a toe infection forced her to withdraw from the event.
It was one of the most unfortunate ending to an excellent season-opening campaign from the top seeded Belarusian. Azarenka was being troubled with her right toe for the last 10 days but kept on playing in Brisbane with full effect.
It only made her infection worse and she eventually had to pull out of the semi-final at the very last moment. She had to undergo a minor toe surgery and her doctors have suggested that the belligerent Belarusian ill return to tennis courts after three to
four days of rest.
"It's a right toe infection - it's been there for about 10 days and it's been getting worse a little bit," Azarenka said. "I had to take action on it, which I did yesterday - it was a minor surgery, I had to take something out
of my toe. And unfortunately I didn't have enough time to recover to be able to play the semifinals today. The doctor had told me I wouldn't be able to play for three, four days, but today I saw him in the morning and he said it was actually much better than
he thought - he expected a much worse outcome."
Azarenka’s withdrawal from Brisbane International gave a walkover to the second seed Serena Williams. The world number three will play the title match of the WTA Tour event against the Russian youngster, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Williams was already the hot favourite for winning the Brisbane title and after Azarenka’s elimination from the draw, it seems as her path to glory has become easier. Pavlyuchenkova is ranked at number 36 in the WTA Premier Rankings and will have a narrow
chance of succeeding against the might of the world number three, Williams, in the big match.
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