And that, ladies and gentlemen, is that. Victoria Azarenka is well and truly back. As for Serena Williams, she never went away, although it’s fair to say she didn’t come close to her best today. That elusive third title in Indian Wells will have to wait. For obvious reasons, this is an emotional venue for Serena. Still, she was here, and so was Venus. And that may just be the biggest and most important victory of the week. Thanks for your company.
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Azarenka speaks; she also seems very emotional. “Where do I start? I’m a little bit nervous, but I wanted to address a personal thank you to Serena … I know how hard it was for you to come here … it’s truly inspiring, you have changed our game. If it wasn’t for you, and seeing how hard you work, I wouldn’t be so motivated.”
Maybe we have an answer. Serena addresses the crowd, and she’s visibly and audibly emotional. “Thank you for the support,” she says after receiving the runner’s-up trophy. “It was really hard, the last moment I had here wasn’t the greatest moment, so thank you so much. Thank you so much for the cheers, I can’t even begin to tell you what it means.” She pauses to congratulate Vika, then adds: “I’m just so happy to be here again.”
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As for Williams, 33 unforced errors to 22 winners is a real turn up. It’ll be fascinating to hear what she has to say afterwards. Whatever the problem was, though, she looked unsettled from the outset.
What a performance that was from Azarenka. She held her nerve brilliantly, particularly towards the end, when all the signs were that Serena was about to mount another improbable comeback. Let’s not forget that Vika lost three match points against Williams in the Madrid Open last year. Closing out a match is hard enough at the best of times, but blocking out memories of a loss like that is a real mental mountain. Hats off.
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Azarenka wins the second set to claim the title 6-4, 6-4!
Second set: Williams 4-6, 4-6 Azarenka* (*denotes server)
Serving for the match for a second time, Azarenka is forced to catch her toss as it goes awry. Not an auspicious start. A brief rally ensues, concluded in brutal fashion when Serena – falling away from the ball, and with both feet off the ground – blasts a backhand winner. She follows up with another thunderbolt from the back of the court, and suddenly it’s 0-30. Wow. Incredible stuff. Another gargantuan groundstroke from Williams leaves Azarenka all at sea, and it’s 15-40. Two more break points for the American. She saves the first with a penetrating serve, then gets back to deuce after coming out on top of a brief exchange from the back. Williams nets a forehand to bring up match point. The tension is almost palpable. And then … Serena drives a forehand return long! Azarenka is the champion!
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Second set: Williams* 4-6, 4-5 Azarenka (*denotes server)
Well, well, well. We’ve gone from 5-1 to 5-4 in this set in what seems the blink of an eye. Worse yet for Azarenka, there’s suddenly an eerie calm about Serena. She serves out to 15. How are the nerves, Vika?
Second set: Williams 4-6, 3-5 Azarenka* (*denotes server)
Azarenka steps up to serve for the title with an hour and 17 minutes on the clock. She’s been almost flawless on serve in this match, but at 15-0 she overcooks a groundstroke to drop her first point of the set behind the first serve. A double fault follows. She nails a serve down the middle; it’s called out, but Vika challenges. Bad move. The replay confirms the call, and another double fault follows. Moral of the story? Never interrupt your own rhythm. Williams, who has missed every break point she has conjured so far, finds a deep return. Azarenka goes long and that’s the first time in the match she’s been broken. Game on? It could be!
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Second set: Williams* 4-6, 2-5 Azarenka (*denotes server)
Serena survives, at least for another game. The players trade forehand errors to get things going, but another mistake from Williams off the same wing brings up 15-30. She atones with a powerful forehand approach that Azarenka can barely get her racket on. A lovely drop-shot-and-volley routine follows, and it’s 40-30. Then comes one of Serena’s best shots of the match, the server plucking a high ball out of the afternoon sky to belt away a forehand drive volley. Still, it’s Vika to serve for the championship.
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Second set: Williams 4-6, 1-5 Azarenka* (*denotes server)
More mistakes from Serena, not least a forehand driven well beyond the baseline, and it’s a love hold for Azarenka. She’s a game away from her fourth win over Serena in 21 meetings. Who would have thought it?
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Second set: Williams* 4-6, 1-4 Azarenka (*denotes server)
Was that a significant hold? Maybe, just maybe. At 40-30, Serena got down awkwardly to a low backhand. The footwork wasn’t really there, and for a moment it looked like her shot would clip the net. But it crept over, Azarenka missed the next shot, and the American is now on the second set scoreboard. It’s a small step forward, but a step nonetheless.
Second set: Williams 4-6, 0-4 Azarenka* (*denotes server)
It’s worth noting that the second of those smashed rackets didn’t even leave the restringers’ plastic bag. Taking full advantage of the head start handed to her by Williams’ point penalty, Azarenka races away for 4-0. It’s getting increasingly difficult to see a way back for Williams, although it would be foolish to count her out.
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Second set: Williams* 4-6, 0-3 Azarenka (*denotes server)
The opening two points of the game, an ace followed by a double fault, epitomise Serena’s travails here. The shots are there, but only in fits and starts. And at the moment we’re definitely talking more fits than starts. A netted forehand at 30-30 is followed by a screwed forehand that almost lands in the stands. Serena promptly annihilates two rackets. The first earns her a warning, the second a point penalty. It means Williams, as if she didn’t have enough problems, will start the next game 15-0 down before a ball has even been struck.
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Second set: Williams 4-6, 0-2 Azarenka* (*denotes server)
What a hold from Azarenka. At 15-40, she faced two break points. She hit an ace out wide on the first. On the second, Serena went for a horribly low-percentage backhand down the line. She was off balance, and a good two metres behind the baseline. Needless to say, the ball skipped wide. That’s seven break points unconverted, and an eighth soon follows as Serena fires her umpteenth backhand into the net. A tennis net is only three feet high, but from Serena’s end of the court it must be looking mountainous at this point. Another break point comes and goes as Serena fails to get a forehand return over. She looks desperately out of sorts here, and it almost feels humane when Azarenka finally holds courtesy of a deep first serve to the forehand. Serena netted it, by the way. Obviously.
Second set: Williams* 4-6, 0-1 Azarenka (*denotes server)
She’s only gone and done it again. As in the first set, Azarenka claims an early break after another error-strewn game from Williams. It’s worth bearing in mind that this is not exactly uncharted territory for the American, who also lost the opening set in their two previous encounters, at Roland Garros and the All England Club last year, before going on to win. Still, if she’s going to turn this around, she’ll surely have to take her foot off the gas and find some rhythm from the baseline. Not netting a backhand at deuce after failing to move her feet would help. So too would not double-faulting at break point down. Ouch.
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Azarenka wins the opening set 6-4!
First set: Williams 4-6 Azarenka* (*denotes server)
As Venus Williams looks on from the stands, her sister racks up her 17th and 18th unforced errors, failing to find the court with successive backhands. It’s desperate stuff, and Azarenka takes full advantage. A meaty first serve brings up three set points, but she only needs the one. Serena nets another two-fisted backhand, and that’s the opening set. Cracking start by Azarenka, that, even if the American’s fallibility played a major role in the outcome.
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First set: Williams* 4-5 Azarenka (*denotes server)
Still swinging freely, Williams holds convincingly to 15. But can she keep the mistakes down in the next game to keep herself in contention in this opening set?
First set: Williams 3-5 Azarenka* (*denotes server)
Serving at 15-0, Azarenka is simply minding her own business. Then Serena absolutely tubes two successive shots down the line, a forehand followed by a two-hander. It’s 15-30, and you can almost hear the balls pleading for clemency. Azarenka sends down another double fault, and frankly you can hardly blame her; it probably seems safer, such is the venom of Serena’s shots. But Azarenka is feistiness personified. She somehow weathers a storm of Williams groundstrokes to get back to deuce. Serena belts a backhand long, and it brings up an unlikely game point. Yet again, the American leathers a forehand return into the net. The errors are mounting for Williams, and so are the missed opportunities: that’s five break points she’s missed now. With 35 minutes gone, Azarenka is a game away from the opening set.
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First set: Williams* 3-4 Azarenka (*denotes server)
Some heavy, heavy hitting from Serena, who holds from 0-30 courtesy of a barrage of big serves. Vika is getting her racket on the ball, but there’s simply too much heat on the Williams delivery for her to control it and get it back in play. Serena stays in touch, but she’s still living dangerously.
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First set: Williams 2-4 Azarenka* (*denotes server)
Azarenka just about sees out a compelling game, comfortably the best of the match so far. The timing is coming for Williams, and with it the first hint of vulnerability on the Azarenka serve. A booming forehand winner from the American at 15-0 is followed by a double fault from Azarenka, who hit 10 doubles in her semi-final against the Czech Republic’s Karolína Plíšková. Some awkward footwork from Williams on the next point leads to an ungainly forehand error, but she hits back with a blistering forehand return that borders on the contemptuous. Vika claws her way back to parity with an ace, but Serena blasts another forehand off a weak serve to the deuce court to bring up a second break point. Williams is still struggling for consistency from the baseline, though, and when she hits a forehand return long on the next point there is to be no reprieve. Azarenka hangs tough to see out the game and protect the break.
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First set: Williams* 2-3 Azarenka (*denotes server)
Ladies and gentlemen, Serena Williams is in the building. She races through her service game in double-quick time, in the process hitting a sublime running forehand pass. That got the crowd going, and no mistake.
First set: Williams 1-3 Azarenka* (*denotes server)
Another impressive service game from Azarenka, who is finding real depth and penetration on her first serve. A love game for the Belarusian features an ace and a couple of missed backhand returns from Serena, who really is pressing too hard on that wing. If she is going to hit through her opponent, which seems to be the game plan at present, she’ll need to find her timing first.
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First set: Williams* 1-2 Azarenka (*denotes server)
A crisp forehand winner that takes her to 30-0 suggests Serena is belatedly warming to the task. The ace with which she concludes the game, which she wins to love, confirms as much. Still, who would have predicted Serena would open the match with two love games, losing the first and winning the second?
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First set: Williams 0-2 Azarenka* (*denotes server)
As Azarenka sends down an ace to move 40-30 ahead in her opening service game, her coach Wim Fissette applauds. A frustrated Serena then bunts a forehand return long, and that’s the break consolidated. What a fantastic start for the Belarusian.
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First set: Williams* 0-1 Azarenka (*denotes server)
Serena drops the opening game to love amid a flurry of double faults and unforced errors. She looks mighty nervous. The pressure of the occasion, given the background mentioned below? Possibly, although she’s never been the quickest starter. We’ll soon know more.
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Azarenka will be up to No8 in the world when the new rankings are published tomorrow. That’s a welcome shot in the arm for the women’s game, although it could be argued that it’s already in rude health, what with Angelique Kerber breaking through to win the Australian Open, Flavia Pennetta claiming the US Open title after Serena fell to Roberta Vinci in the semi-finals, the likes of Belinda Bencic and Garbiñe Muguruza on the rise, and so on.
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It’s 82 degrees in California, although the red roses at courtside don’t look unduly perturbed by the heat. Hopefully the players won’t be either. Interestingly, Navratilova was of the view that Vika is marginally the fitter of the two.
Azarenka loses the toss and Serena elects to serve. The Belarusian, seeded 13th here, will need to start strongly, so that could have a bearing on things. We’ll see.
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The players have just strolled out into the mid-morning sun, Serena Williams resplendent in a turquoise outfit with colour-coordinated tracksuit top, Azarenka sporting a huge pair of headphones, as is her wont. I’m assuming she’ll be taking those off before we get under way.
“Azarenka is one of the few people who can stand up to Serena Williams’ power,” Martina Navratilova, looking ahead to the match, tells BT Sport. So there you have it, from an 18-time grand slam winner no less.
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Hello and welcome!
After losing the Wimbledon final to Roger Federer in 2004, Andy Roddick was asked whether the rivalry between the two would be one that lasted for years. With trademark alacrity, Roddick shot back: “I’m gonna have to start winning some of the matches to call it a rivalry!” In the face of Serena Williams’ enduring brilliance, the women’s locker room must feel much the same. Serena doesn’t do rivals. Maria Sharapova, who has faced the American in Wimbledon, French Open and Olympic finals since their first encounter in Miami 12 years ago, probably meets the description as closely as anyone. And lest we forget, Sharapova has lost to Serena 18 times in a row, with little immediate prospect of adding to the two wins she recorded over Williams in 2004 following her suspension for taking the banned substance meldonium.
Victoria Azarenka, who stands between Serena and a third title in Indian Wells, has fared little better against an opponent whom she also counts as a close friend, losing all but three of their 20 previous meetings. Unlike Sharapova, however, the 15th-ranked Belarusian has at least enjoyed relatively recent success against the world No1, beating her in the finals of Doha and Cincinnati in 2013. That may seem too long ago to be relevant here, but some context is necessary. Undermined by a foot injury the following year, Azarenka, a former world No1 with two Australian Open titles to her name, subsequently fell out of the top 20 and has since struggled to re-establish herself at the top of the women’s game. But she is gradually working her way back to form and fitness, and at her best certainly has the tools to trouble Serena.
The pair faced off three times last year, twice on clay and once on the grass of Wimbledon, and all three matches went the distance. Factor in the emotional dynamics of the match – playing a friend is never easy, while victory at a tournament shunned by Serena following the alleged racial abuse directed at her family in 2001 would surely mean a lot to the 21-time slam winner – and we should be in for a fascinating contest.
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