Wednesday, March 14, 2012

"Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

Was it "a mighty and raging fury" that took over Victoria Azarenka today in Indian Wells when she played Agnieszka Radwanska, or was it just one of those things? Things have been pretty chilly between the two  players lately, and you have to wonder to what degree this chill motivated Azarenka to pretty much run over Radwanska. The top seed took the first set 6-0. At 5-0 in the second set, Radwanska broke her, and good-humoredly encouraged the crowd in its cheering. She then held at love and looked much more like herself, but it was too late, and Azarenka won the second set 6-2.

Angelique Kerber didn't have to come back from the brink tonight like she did in her last two matches. She defeated Li Na 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open. This was Kerber's first win over Li. Any discussion of top German players now has to include Kerber, who has followed up her U.S. Open semifinal appearance with some excellent tennis and a lot of determination. Unlike Andrea Petkovic and Sabine Lisicki, Kerber has stayed healthy, and unlike Lisicki and Julia Goerges, she has stayed calm and consistent.

In doubles, 3rd seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka defeated 5th seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, and 2nd seeds Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina defeated wild cards Gisela Dulko and Paola Suarez. The other semifinalist teams are top seeds Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond (def. Jarmila Gajdosova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands), and Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (def. Casey Dellacqua and Sam Stosur).

Tomorrow, the other two singles quarterfinals will be played. Marion Bartoli plays Ana Ivanovic, and Maria Kirilenko plays Maria Sharapova.

3 comments:

Todd.Spiker said...

A Vika scorned is quite a sight. ;)

CJ said...

congrat to vika's win
and tomorrow gonna be fun
wanna watch ana to win
and maria vs maria will be interesting.
thanks for the article

Diane said...

You're welcome, CJ.

I found this Indian Wells a bit boring at first, but now it is starting to be fun.