“I’m not a psychic, or how you say, but we’ll see,” said Victoria Azarenka yesterday when asked if she’d be 100 percent today, considering the apparent ankle injury she sustained in the semifinals. It says a lot about the new No. 1’s new dominance that she was still favored to win this final. There was the in-form player thing and the 5-0 head-to-head against world No. 5 Sam Stosur.
Azarenka did win, and she made it seem easy. The top seed and reigning Australian Open champ beat the third seed and reigning U.S. Open champ 6-1, 6-2 in 67 minutes. Azarenka has now won as many titles this year (three) as Stosur has won in her career. She’s also won 17 straight matches – one more than Justine Henin won to start 2004.
Azarenka, among the WTA’s best receivers, won the coin toss and opted to receive against one of the tour’s best servers. Stosur held at love, but that proved to be the highlight for her today. She would hold just twice more the entire match, and she would never break Azarenka. (Stosur did not even earn a break point.)
Azarenka, who had her left ankle taped, moved better than anyone expected, if not as well as she can. Still she did everything better than Stosur. She consistently hit with more depth, power and especially control. She played closer to the baseline and dictated rallies from the center of the court, repeatedly hitting to Stosur’s weaker backhand. Azarenka also put pressure on Stosur’s serve. Stosur, best known for that part of her game, won less than half of her service points. While this result was far more about what Azarenka did than what Stosur didn’t, Stosur’s strengths, her forehand and serve, weren’t at their best.
Azarenka broke Stosur for the match, and won on her first match point when Stosur hit a forehand long. That’s how it was for Stosur today. A few games earlier, up 6-1, 3-0, Azarenka hit a forehand just wide as she approached the net. “Well she is human after all – missed one,” said Eurosport commentator Jo Durie. And that’s how it was for Azarenka today.
What Azarenka did best is what she’s been doing well for a while now – play aggressively without getting messy. She hit 14 winners against eight errors. (Stosur hit 16 winners against 25 errors.)
In the post-match interview Azarenka herself seemed surprised by the easy victory, even saying she got a little “lucky.” Not a word you’d expect from a woman completing her fifth straight final, a woman brimming with confidence, on court and off. “She’s really turning into a sporting superstar,” said the Eurosport commentator as Azarenka walked on court.
Azarenka has said that around this time last year she was “a little bit of a mess.” Now she’s anything but. It’s a good time to be Victoria Azarenka, and you don’t need a psychic to tell you that.
—Bobby Chintapalli
