After getting steamrolled by a dominant Serena Williams in yesterday’s first set, the ousted No. 4 seed Victoria Azarenka said she probably just lost to the eventual U.S. Open champion.
Williams roared like a champion at the start, saw her serve become less invincible in the second set, but still hung on for a 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) victory despite blowing four match points. Williams, six months removed from a life-threatening blood clot in her lungs, moved into the Sweet 16 against former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic. Serena’s 28th seed is just a number now.
Williams overpowered Azarenka with 12 aces and took an 5-0 lead after 17 minutes.
“What is it like?” Azarenka said. “It’s painful. To have somebody go at you like that, it’s painful.”
Asked if Williams is playing at a level to win her fourth Open, Azarenka said, “Definitely. She’s playing at the highest level than actually I’ve seen her play in a few years. She has a complete package. The level of tennis was high. She’s a big champion.”
Williams’ low seeding because of her injury layoffs forced her into an early battle against a top 5 player, but the Williams camp didn’t mind.
In fact, Oracene Price, Serena’s mother, said it was good the second set became a tough battle.
“I’m just happy she got a test,” Price told The Post. “It was a little too easy, too boring. This is better.”
“I think the whole match was [like] a semifinal, but I’m only in the round of 16,” Serena said.
Serena also brushed off Azarenka’s remark that she is playing so superbly she should be raising the trophy next Saturday night.
“I think in the first set I played some really good tennis,” Serena said. “I think in the second set she played really, really good tennis. She kind of dictated and I allowed that. I probably could have played better, but it’s good to know that I have things I want to work on.”
Azarenka said she never expected Williams to rise so soon from her embolism.
“It’s definitely amazing that she is healthy,” Azarenka said. “She really came back strong mentally.”
Williams dazzled in the first set with a series of spectacular winners from the baseline and crushing aces. At one juncture, she pounded four straight aces — including three straight during the third game, at 116 mph, 115 mph and 117 mph — to take a 3-0 lead.
Azarenka came alive in the second set, but Williams still led 5-3 and had a love-40 lead on Azarenka’s serve, triple match point. But Azarenka won five straight points to extend the match. Serving for the match at 5-4, Williams had a fourth match point, thought she had won it, but a backhand winner on the sideline was, first called good, was overruled.
It eventually carried into a tense tiebreaker that was once 5-5. On Serena’s fifth match point at 6-5, Azarenka fired a crosscourt forehand wide.
Afterward Azarenka said she is returning home for a few days then coming back to Manhattan for Fashion Week where she will host a party with NBA star Dwight Howard. She is a sensation in Belarus, partly because of her good looks.
“I’m not going to be here for tennis, so I’ll do something else,” Azarenka said.
Williams will be around — for the tennis.
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Venus Williams, who withdrew from the Open on Wednesday after revealing her auto-immune disease, did not attend Serena’s match, but still is in New York.
“I think she doesn’t want to be reminded of it,” Price said. “I hope she doesn’t go back home by herself.”