Victoria Azarenka advances to semifinals at Brisbane International
Victoria Azarenka maintained her surge in form while the leading women on the tour are struggling with injuries or inconsistency at the start of the season, reaching the Brisbane International semifinals with a 6-1, 6-2 win over eighth-seeded Roberta Vinci.
The two-time Australian Open champion has dropped just 10 games en route to the semis, where she’ll meet Samantha Crawford, the No. 142-ranked, 20-year-old US qualifier who beat Andrea Pektovic 6-3, 6-0 earlier Thursday.
Azarenka, who was limited to 23 tournaments across the last two seasons due to foot and leg injuries, was was broken once in each set but converted 7 of her 11 breakpoint chances against Vinci, who ended Serena Williams’ bid for a season Grand Slam with an upset semifinal win at the US Open last year.
“I really had to take control in my own hands, because she comes up with some really difficult situations and combinations which keep you on your toes,” said Azarenka, who added that while she didn’t know a lot about Crawford, “Obviously nobody is getting into semifinals by not playing well.”
Fourth-seeded Angelique Kerber, the highest-ranked woman remaining in the Brisbane tournament, advanced to the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and will next play No. 6-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro, who held off Varvara Lepchenko 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
On the men’s side, Milos Raonic opened his 2016 season with a 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-4 win over Croatia’s Ivan Dodig and moved into a quarterfinal match against Lucas Pouille, who had an upset 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3 win over sixth-seeded David Goffin.
Grigor Dimitrov advanced with a 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-2 win over Viktor Troicki and will face the winner of the night match between defending champion Roger Federer and German qualifier Tobias Kamke.
At the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki moved into the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Alexandra Dalgheru. “I really hit it well, I went for my shots,” said Wozniacki, who made only eight unforced errors. “I came to the net – I didn’t even know I could volley like that, so I was pleasantly surprised.”
Wozniacki has a 5-0 record against her semifinal opponent, Sloane Stephens. The fifth-seeded American had a 7-6 (6), 6-3 win over qualifier Naomi Broady of Britain. Earlier, Tamira Paszek beat fellow qualifier Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3 in a match that lasted almost three hours.