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Azarenka Tops Defending Champ Clijsters to Move into Australian Open Final

January 26, 2012 By Tennis Panorama News

MELBOURNE PARK, Australia -Victoria Azarenka  has defeated defending champion Kim Clijsters 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 on  Thursday to move into the Australian Open final to be held on Saturday night. This will mark the Belarusian’s first major final.  She’ll play the winner of the Maria Sharapova who defeated Petra Kvitova in the other semifinal 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

“Well, I was really, really happy to win the match, you know.  I think it was really difficult third set.  There was a lot of ups and downs, but in a good way,” said Azarenka.
“She was coming with some incredible shots; I was really going for it.  So it was really important to get that 5‑3 lead, you know, and keep on putting pressure. ”

“Disappointed,” said Clijsters about the loss.  But then again, I felt like I have given it my all these last two weeks, and it’s unfortunate.  The match was very close.  There were a few deciding moments where I think I maybe had a little bit of an advantage, in the third set, especially that first game where I had breakpoint.
” But, you know, she definitely played really well.  She was playing very aggressive tennis, moving really well.  So she deserved to win at the end.

“I felt like I had to serve well today because she was returning really well.  That’s definitely something that always comes up, is making sure that I finish off my complete service motion before I start thinking about the next shot that’s being fired at me.
” She returned really well today, very deep, close to the baseline.  She likes to play a lot down the middle.  That’s obviously one of her strengths, is to return as fast as she can back to the server.
” It’s tough to put yourself in that position and to get out of that.  But she played really well, has improved her movement a lot over the last year I think, because she was returning a lot of balls, I thought. ”

Depending on the the final, either Azarenka, Sharapova or Kvitova will take the No. 1 ranking from Caroline Wozniacki who lost it earlier in the week when Clijsters defeated her in the quarterfinals. Azarenka is currently on an 11- match winning streak.

Azarenka started strongly in the first set breaking Cjisters and serving consistently. Clijsters dominated the second set moving Azarenka around the court at will. Azarenka’s serve deserted her.

Azarenka recovered her composure in the third set breaking the Belgian’s serve three times to seal the win.“I felt like my hand is about 200 kilograms and my body is about 1,000 and everything is shaking, but that feeling when you finally win is such a relief. My God I cannot believe it’s over. I just want to cry,” Azarenka said  in her post-match on court interview.  “It was just trying to stay in the moment. Kim really took over the second set and I felt there was nothing I could do. I just tried to regroup.””She made me run so much, I felt like I was, you know, running like a marathon out there.  I just tried to start to be more aggressive and try to play my game and, yeah, start from the beginning.
“I have one more set to go.  I have another, I don’t know, hour, 30 minutes, 40 minutes to make a difference.  That was my mental approach.“I guess before you all thought I was a mental case. I was just young and emotional, I’m really glad the way I fight, that’s the most thing I’m really proud of. I fight for every ball.”

” I’m still in the tournament so I have my mind still in the tournament.  You know, today was not the end.  I have one more match to go.  I have to stay humble and stay focused.  So that’s it.”

Filed Under: Features, Front Page News, tennis news, tournament coverage, tournaments Tagged With: Australian Open, Australian Open 2012, Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarenka

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