Serena outlasts Azarenka
Print Edition
VICTORIA Azarenka double-faulted on match point and allowed Serena Williams to reach the Madrid Open quarterfinals with a 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (1) win yesterday.
After early breaks in the deciding set, Williams overshot a forehand to trail 5-6. Azarenka reached match point on serve, but double-faulted. Three consecutive double faults made it 6-6.
Williams dominated the tiebreaker, and improved her head-to-head record against the Belarussian to 9-0.
After an injury-affected season last year, Azarenka, a two-time finalist, was unseeded in Madrid for the first time.
Earlier, Maria Sharapova also advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Caroline Garcia of France 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
The third-seeded Russian, who is making her sixth appearance at the Madrid tournament, broke her opponent’s serve five times but was broken three times.
“It came down to a few points in the third set,” said Sharapova, the defending champion. “She was going for it. I could have had a higher percentage of first serves in, but even on good second serves she stepped in and hit really good shots and there was not much I could do until she started making a few errors.”
Also, fourth-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-1, 6-4, and Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania beat Czech Barbora Strycova 6-4, 6-4.
In the men’s tournament, seventh-seeded David Ferrer of Spain defeated compatriot Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-4, 6-0, while hard-serving American John Isner edged Brazil’s Thomas Bellucci 7-6 (5), 6-7 (11), 6-1 and Italian Simone Bolelli beat compatriot Luca Vanni 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
But there was a surprise as Fernando Verdasco of Spain put out US Open champion and ninth seed Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-3.
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