By Chris Oddo | Thursday, January 22, 2015
Victoria Azarenka has now won 20 of 21 Australian Open matches after her straight-sets takedown of Caroline Wozniacki on Day 4.
Photo Source: Corleve
In a highly anticipated second-round battle between a pair of former world No. 1s, Victoria Azarenka surged past Caroline Wozniacki, 6-4, 6-2.
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In the first meeting between former world No. 1s in the second round of a major in seven years (Davenport v. Sharapova, 2008 Australian Open), it was the unseeded Azarenka who took control to roll to her fourth career victory in eight matches against Wozniacki.
"I think it was a high quality match,” Azarenka told press. “There are always things you can improve but it's great progress."
Though Azarenka is still considered to be searching for the form that took her to two Australian Open titles in 2012 and 2013, the oft-injured Belarussian has won 20 of 21 in Melbourne. The victory was Azarenka’s first top ten win in over a year, and just her second in her last eight such matches.
“At the end of the day she played better than me today and hats off to that,” Wozniacki said. “I just need to go back and work hard.”
Azarenka was the better player from the onset in this affair. She struck 31 winners and earned 13 break points on the evening, converting on five.
The world No. 44 would break in the first game after fighting off several game points, searing a down-the-line backhand winner to take the lead.
Azarenka would break again for a 3-0 lead in the next game, tagging a down-the-line forehand that Wozniacki couldn’t handle.
But a determined Wozniacki would battle back to level at 4-all before Azarenka rallied to take the final two games and the 58-minute opener.
In the second set, Azarenka did not face a break point. She finished winning the final three games to book a spot in the third round next to Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.
And, she danced:
"I might as well enjoy myself on the court," she told the Margaret Court Arena fans after the match.
Considering the authority with which Azarenka took down one of the game’s hottest players of late, she could end up dancing her way to another Grand Slam title.