To get you updated swiftly (but a little bit late, I know!), the last matches of the Apia Sydney tournament (and we loved every minute of it!):
- Na Li v. Kvitova
Kvitova started the match just steam-rolling Na Li with a great deal of winners. An amazing passing shot at 5-1, pretty much left Na Li without confidence and luck: 1-6. In the second set, Na Li took more control of the points to level up at 5-5. At that point Na Li broke Kvitova's serve and held her own to force a deciding third set: 7-5. Due to an early break, Kvitova was left pursuing the rebreak but Na Li used everything in her tennis arsenal to prevent that. She kept hammering those balls across the court! Kvitova was in desperate search for her A-game but another break at 4-2, meant the Chinese could serve for the match: 6-2. At the press conference, Na Li said she's back and we love it! Seems Kvitova is going to have to win the number 1 spot some other way.
Highlights: watch here
- Azarenka v. Radwanska
It's always an interesting match if you got Radwanska on the other side! In the first set, the Pole could hold on to an early break (even facing 0-40 and three breakpoints in her following serve game) to force another break at 4-1. She just wasn't impressed with Azarenka's high speed game and high pitched noise for that matter: 1-6! The second set was a lot more promising struggle with Azarenka taking an important break at 4-3 up to serve for the set: 6-3. You could tell Radwanska wasn't completely charged up again after her epic win against Wozniacki the day before (remember that match wound up after midnight!) Azarenka was in need for some serious fighting power at 1-2 to hold serve but after that, the next 4 games went her way: 6-2.
Highlights: watch here
So the final in Sydney had to be decided between Na Li and Azarenka!
In the opening set, it was just raining breaks until Azarenka held serve to get an advantage of 3-1. There were just too much unforced errors in Na Li's game while she kept complaining to hubby in her playerbox. Another break accomadated Azarenka to serve the first set in her favor and with an ace and two misses of Na Li, the 6-2 showed up on the scoreboard.
A ridiculously long but incredible point in the first game, second set, made the Chinese fans go crazy! You could say the second set was the complete opposite of the first one: both players held their first service game to love, the momentum switched to Na Li and now Azarenka was making the unforced errors. The score adjusted to: 6-2, 1-6 as a result.
There have been a lot of third sets in this tournament/ The slow start seems to be the 'Sydney'-way.
Na Li won her sixth consecutive game when breaking the Azarenka serve in the first game of the third set. But Azarenka fought back to level up at 3-3. And in the heat of the moment, the Australian camerapeople decided to show the most cute bug ever! I was totally distracted after that! An unfortunate break gave Azarenka a 5-3 lead. She was honestly the most consistent player and despite the noisy Chinese crowd, finished it: 6-2, 1-6, 6-3.
Highlights: watch here
So, two unexpected winners for the first two WTA tournaments of the year: Kaia Kanepi and Victoria Azarenka (sure she's the number three but I don't think everybody's first pick for the Sydney title). Should make the Australian Open incredibly exciting!
Keep posted!
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