It was a day when women’s tennis needed a result or performance to lighten the mood, to restore some perspective to the sport and give the players back their integrity as professional athletes.
If there was a match that might drown out the noise over Twirlgate at the 2015 Australian Open, not to mention the legitimate concerns about the effects of menstruation on performance and another minor Williams sister controversy, it was surely that between good friends and former world No1s, Victoria Azarenka and Caroline Wozniacki.
Azarenka, unseeded after a lengthy period out with injury, returned to the place where she has won the title twice and looked as convincing as she did before she went away in two quick sets against the Dane, a player loved for her joie de vivre while weighed down by heartache and all-round frustration as much as her achievements on court.
As it turned out, the second-round match rather fizzled out. Azarenka won for the loss of only six games, 6-4, 6-2, and next plays the quietly efficient Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova on Saturday.
“I’m happy with the way I stayed consistent throughout the whole match,” Azarenka said. “There are always things you can improve but it’s great progress from one match to another [she beat the American Sloane Stephens in the first round]. I just want to keep trying to stay in that path and continue to grow, continue to improve.”
She said coming back unseeded was not as bad as it seemed to outsiders: “Sometimes it doesn’t really matter on what stage you play. It’s probably tougher in the beginning of the tournament. But I knew I was unseeded so I could play anybody. I just accept whoever is on the opposite side and try to do my best. She had such an incredible end of last season so I knew I had to step up my game and take my chances. I think I did that pretty well.”
Wozniacki, meanwhile, was disappointed rather than shattered. “Obviously she feels great here,” the Dane said of the winner. “I think it’s a curse I’ve gotten here. I’ve made semis, then quarters, then fourth round, then third round, this year second round. It’s gone that way the last few years. Hopefully I’m going to break that next year and start going the other way. I love this tournament and I’m so sad to be out already. Obviously it was a tough draw for both of us. But she came out on top and played better.”
Serena Williams is destined for a quarter-final against Azarenka if the Belarusian keeps winning. The American remains the virtually unbackable favourite, although she did not have everything her own way beating the unseeded Russian Vera Zvonareva by the intriguing score, 7-5, 6-0.
She said of her welcome return to form after some worryingly ordinary displays: “Things really clicked. I had no other option but for things to click. I just had to start playing better.” Among those left in the draw and determined to spoil her progress are the fourth seed Petra Kvitova, sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, Dominika Cibulkova and her sister Venus.
