Defending Australian Open Champion Victoria Azarenka put an end to the dream run of American teenager Sloane Stephens as she reached the Final of the Australian Open with a comfortable 6-1 6-4 win.
In Saturday’s Final, the Belarussian will face China’s Li Na, who dispatched all-conquering Russian Maria Sharapova with surprising ease 6-2 6-2.
Sharapova, hunting for her 5th Grand Slam title, entered the first of the two Women’s Semi Finals in confident mood after dropping just 9 games in the previous 5 rounds – where her total time spent on court clocked in at just 5 hours and 15 minutes. With Serena Williams, WTA’s best player, out of the tournament at the hands of the Sloane Stephens in the Quarter Finals, both Sharapova and Li Na had received a timely boost to their chances of lifting the season-opening Grand Slam.
The Russian got off to a disastrous start by serving up two double faults as she lost her opening game to get Na off the blocks. The Chinese consolidated her break, despite facing a break point of her own, and soon raced to a 4-1 lead courtesy of another break in Sharapova’s third service game. The Russian managed to get back one of her breaks to reduce the deficit to 4-2 but immediately surrendered her advantage as Li Na broke back and served out the set ruthlessly in 48 minutes to draw first blood in the match.
A change of racquet brought a slight change in fortunes for the tall Russian as she held serve in the first game of the opening set and managed to eke out two break points on Na’s serve. Li Na was having none of it and at 2-2, despite her misfiring serve and groundstrokes, the crowd anticipated the famous Sharapova fightback to gather steam. However, it was the Chinese who made her move in game 5 as she broke to lead 3-2 and consolidated her break showing nerves of steel in the face of a break point for the Russian. Sharapova never really got going in the match and cut a frustrated figure as she dropped serve yet again to allow the Chinese to serve for a place in the Final, which she duly did, to wrap up a 6-2 6-2 humbling of the 2012 Australian Open Finalist.
The match stats did not look too pretty for the Russian. Her 6 double faults showed the vulnerability of her serve that has plagued her for over a year. Li Na demonstrated a higher level of consistency as she racked up 21 winners to 18 unforced errors compared to 17 winners and 32 unforced errors for the Russian. Such an error-prone display resulted in the Russian converting just 1 of 7 break point opportunities (14%) whereas the Chinese wrapped up 5 of 10 (50%).
Given Sharapova’s easy run to the Semi Final, many considered her a huge favourite to reach Saturday’s Final and the added incentive of not having to face Serena was expected to motivate her even further. Li Na entered the match having lost her last 3 matches to the Russian but with her new coach Carlos Rodriguez (who formerly coached Justine Henin) the Chinese demonstrated her good form that saw her knock out 3 successive seeded players – Sorana Cirstea, Julia Goerges and Agnieszka Radwanska – in the previous 3 rounds.
The 2nd Semi Final got off in the mid-30s Celsius heat of Melbourne with the 19-year old giant-slayer Stephens playing the defending champion Azarenka.
The Belarussian got off to a good start, converting her first break point in Stephens’ opening service game before holding to love to go 2-0 up. The young American got on the board in game 3 but soon found herself 4-1 down as Azarenka converted the 2nd of two break point opportunities in game 5. The defending champ duly rammed home the advantage to seal the first set 6-1 in only 33 minutes as she broke Stephens’ serve yet again.
The atmosphere around the stadium was quite muted as the young American soon found herself 2-0 down in the 2nd set. However, in game 3, there was a glimmer of hope for the youngster as, for the second straight match, her opponent suffered an injury. Azarenka turned her ankle attempting to turn and the American took full advantage of the unfortunate turn of events to level the set at 2-2. Azarenka was not too pleased, to say the least, about a call by Umpire Carolyn Kramer to replay a point in game 5 but managed to edge ahead 3-2 and soon, 4-2. Stephens clawed her way back into the set to 4-3 but Azarenka got the upper hand yet again to serve for the match, and a place in the Final, at 5-3. What seemed like a straight forward service game was anything but that, as the Belarussian squandered 5 match points and lost the game giving her opponent the chance to serve to stay in the set and the match. At this point, one of the most controversial incidents in the tournament took place as the defending champion called for the doctor and took a 9 minute medical timeout for what later turned out to be some sort of breathing and/or back-related issue. The surprising turn of events generated a lot of anti-Azarenka heat on Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere as she was accused of gamesmanship. Surely enough, the young American duly gave up her serve to hand Azarenka a 6-1 6-4 victory, a scoreline that looked straight-forward on paper but masked the difficulty that even champions have to face at the business end of Grand Slams.
The stats reveal a solid, if not overly impressive performance by Azarenka. Her double fault count of 6 is on the high side, but she landed an impressive 70% of 1st serves and won 64% of her 1st serve points. Azarenka managed 21 winners to 31 unforced errors, a stat she will have to improve on against the more consistent Li Na in the Final. Stephens’ 1st serve percentage of 68% was only a trifle behind her opponents but she could muster only 45% of points’ wins when her 1st serve went in. Her inconsistency was clearly shown in the fact that she had only 14 winners to a disappointing 42 unforced errors.
Vika, as she is fondly known, will have to raise her game in the Final if she is to successfully defend the title she won so impressively when she brushed aside Maria Sharapova. As for her opponent, the experience will serve Stephens very well and we could expect big things from her if she stays injury-free and develops more consistency in her game.
