Sports

No. 2 Azarenka into US Open quarters — not without trouble

Victoria Azarenka doesn’t make life easy on herself.

For the second straight match, the second seed from Belarus dropped the first set, only to advance with a gritty performance.

In the opening match Tuesday at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Azarenka spotted No. 13 Ana Ivanovic a set, then rallied for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, fourth-round victory and quarterfinal matchup with unseeded Daniela Hantuchova.

“Ana just came out firing, she played amazing tennis in the first set … ripping winners and serving great,” Azarenka said in the post-match courtside interview. “I really had to wake up in the second set. In the second set, I felt I was determined, more focused and taking more opportunities.”

The match was initially scheduled to be played on Labor Day, but was postponed due to rain.

Azarenka found her game while Ivanovic lost hers. Charging the net and serving better as the two-hour, 10-minute match went on, Azarenka broke Ivanovic’s serve nine times — four in the final set — and controlled points in the final two sets.
A two-time Australian Open champion and the Open runner-up last year, Azarenka is seen as the biggest threat to Serena Williams repeating as champion in Flushing. But she will have to be better to even get to the final. Her play varied from inconsistent to puzzling, losing her serve seven times, committing nine double faults and seeming unsure of herself. She also failed to convert her first three match points.

“I really didn’t go for my shots, I kept waiting for mistakes and something to happen,” she said.

Ivanovic, a former world No. 1, was in control after ripping 17 winners in a dominant first set. But she managed just 24 over the final two sets while committing 22 unforced errors. More troublesome was her serve. She made just 50 percent of her first serves, and after breaking Azarenka to pull within 5-4 in the third set, Ivanovic dropped her serve yet again, netting a backhand on Azarenka’s fourth match point.