(October 29, 2011) Following a stunning loss to alternate Marion Bartoli in the round robin, Victoria Azarenka needed to collect herself to face Vera Zvonareva, who snuck into the semifinal round despite having already finished the day before. The Belarusian stepped up her play substantially on Saturday, cruising to a comfortable 6-2, 6-3 victory.
After the loss, Azarenka knew that starting strong would be important to building any sort of momentum, saying, “I really tried to change my mentality from yesterday. It was a bit of a disaster.” She could not have asked for a better start, breaking serve three times in the first set and hitting 81 percent of first serves.
In the second set, Zvonareva tried to shore up her game, saving six of eight break chances against her serve. As the set wore on, the Russian let her nerves get the better of her, surrendering a late break and allowing Azarenka to serve out the match.
When asked about the upcoming final with Petra Kvitova, Azarenka said, “Tomorrow is about sudden death. It’s the last match at a very important tournament. It’s the first time in the final for both of us and we both want to win. It’ll take everything out of us and I hope we can show the best tennis we can.”
Azarenka will hope to overturn her recent luck against Kvitova, who has beaten her in their last three matches, including twice this year.