DOHA: Wildcard Victoria Azarenka yesterday continued with her dream run to set a semi-finals date with American legend Venus Williams at the Qatar Total Open.
Azarenka yesterday crushed former world number Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-3, 6-1 in 92 minutes on the centre court at Khalifa Tennis Complex.
In the day’s first quarter-final, Venus overcame a mid-match crisis to beat fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in 2 hours and 16 minutes.
The American superstar stuttered in the second set but recovered in the decider to seal the match in her favour.
“I fought every point and I guess I will have to play in the same fashion,” Williams said. “I hope I can play in the same way so I could keep my good record here,” she added.
“I didn’t serve badly. I did hit a few second serves, but they were deep and with kick. And she just ‑ I think sometimes you get down, you just get relaxed and you start to go for broke,” Venus said about Radwanska’s game.
Venus said she wants to keep going with an eye on next year’s Olympic Games in 2016.
“Well, I love the game and I feel like I have a lot to give and want to play the Olympics,” Venus said when asked about her motivation to keep playing at the top level.
The American, winner of seven Grand Slam titles, said courts in Doha are ‘slow’.
“I think the courts are pretty slow. The conditions have been challenging because it’s cold or windy, and I think tomorrow might be windy. So I will try to stay focused in these conditions,” she said.
Wozniacki, who couldn’t find rhythm in her loss against Azarenka, said: “It was a tricky day today. Vika played really well. She took her opportunities. I mean, I think the score doesn’t indicate. I think it was a little closer than what the score says.”
She added: “But end of the day, it doesn’t matter. She won the most important points and she took good advantage of the wind that was there. I didn’t feel like I grabbed my opportunities. And then I did a few too many unforced errors with my backhand.”
Meanwhile, tournament favourite Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic crash out. Carla Suarez Navarro prevailed 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 over Kvitova to cause an upset.
Top seed Kvitova - who also lost to the Spaniard in Dubai last week - looked to be cruising into the last four after taking the first set in comfortable fashion, but she lost 10 successive games as the match was turned on its head.
The Wimbledon champion saw all aspects of her game desert her with serves devoid of power, drop shots lacking accuracy and wayward ground strokes. She attempted a brief revival late in the deciding set, but ninth seed Navarro had done enough to allow her to triumph.
“Well, it’s always difficult playing against Petra. She start today really, really good. Yeah, we played last week. We both knew each other really good. I need to always be focused on my game because she’s a really difficult player,” said Navarro, the world no.34.
“But today I played really good today the second and the final set,” she added.
In the last quarter-final, Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic beat Andrea Petkovic of Germany 6-2, 6-1 to set up a semi-final clash with Navarro.
The Peninsula
