At 21, Victoria Azarenka is a year younger than Julia Goerges, but her performance today was that of a seasoned professional and champion-in-waiting. Although you would not have known it from the scheduling or the attendance, this was a blockbuster semi-final between the two hottest players in women’s tennis right now: Azarenka, a comprehensive titlist in consecutive weeks at Marbella and Miami, and Goerges, a surprise winner in Stuttgart (where, in the first round, Azarenka retired against her when leading by a set) who has shown this week that her run there was no fluke.
The roof on Manolo Santana Stadium was closed today due to rain, echoing the indoor clay of Stuttgart, which might have favoured Goerges. But Azarenka entered this match as the bookmakers’ favorite and she never looked anything but. Alone among Goerges’ recent opponents, she succeeded in keeping the ball to the German’s less-tested backhand side, no mean feat considering how quickly Goerges runs around it. Persisting in taking the ball on the rise and patiently edging her toes inside the baseline, Azarenka survived an early break point on her serve before calmly demolishing Goerges’ serve from 40-0 up. Having gained a break point, she neutralized Goerges’ fearsome first shot with a high and looping backhand return before drive-volleying into the open court. Some of Goerges’ previous opponents might have been watching and kicking themselves, and if they weren’t, they should have been.
I can’t be the only one who has been waiting for Azarenka to really make good on her promise so that we can call her Queen Victoria. Too long hampered by her temperament and a still-maturing body, today she showed a calm and predatory intensity, punctuating fearsome winners with emphatic whacks on the soles of her cross-trainers. Consistently pinned back on her backhand and forced to hit her forehand at moments of Azarenka’s choosing, Goerges gave up 17 forehand errors without her usual complement of winners. She looked tired and frustrated, particularly after giving up an early break in the second set, but her fight was never in doubt and any let-up in Azarenka’s tactics or intensity would have allowed her to turn the match around. Azarenka never gave her the chance.
With her 6-4, 6-2 victory today, Azarenka is in her second Premier Mandatory final of the year and will become the first Belarusian to be ranked No. 4 in the world. Of the four big hitters to make it to the semifinals, she is the most canny and clever, and she’s dropped just one set—to tricky lefty Lucie Safarova—during her run. I’m throwing caution to the wind and calling it, if not this year at Roland Garros, then sometime soon: Queen Victoria.
—Hannah Wilks