Tennis

Azarenka seals Miami Open final spot with Kerber win

Victoria Azarenka has booked her spot in the Miami Open final with a convincing performance against Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber.

Kerber defeated Azarenka in the quarter-finals of her first grand-slam triumph in January but the 13th seed exacted revenge in just over 90 minutes in a 6-2 7-5 win.

The Belarusian won 64 per cent of points on first serve despite giving away four double faults and won the majority of points on first return as well (52 per cent) as Kerber struggled to get into full swing during her service games.

Kerber had her opportunities but could only convert four out of eight break points, while Azarenka was brutal on return, breaking the German seven times.

victoriaazarenka-u

The win improves Azarenka’s head-to-head record over Kerber to 7-1, although she said playing the German is a different proposition after her Australian Open triumph.

“Mentally, she plays with so much more confidence and belief,” she said.

“It’s great to be tested this way on such a big stage.”

Azarenka moves onto the final, having won the tournament in 2009 and 2011, to play Svetlana Kuznetsova for the first time since the Australian Open quarter-finals in 2013.

Both players have two majors to their name and Azarenka is looking forward to testing herself against the Russian in the final.

“We have not played each other for a while but we know each other pretty well,” she said.

“Last time we played we were at such different stages of our careers so it will be interest into see both of us coming in and playing such a high level of tennis.”

What do you think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Related Articles

Back to top button
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x