There may be little to crack a smile about when Victoria Azarenka hands you a 6-1 6-0 thrashing in front of your home crowd on centre court at Rod Laver Arena.
But always the optimist, wildcard Casey Dellacqua still managed a wry grin when deep in the second set, a male fan yelled affectionately from the stands, “you look beautiful, Casey”.
Unable to repeat her heroics of a fourth-round run in 2008, it was a scarce positive for the Australian on a night where Azarenka moved efficiently and timed the ball superbly, clocking 14 winners and only 12 unforced errors to her opponent’s eight winners and 34 unforced errors.
Dellacqua started aggressively, holding her opening service game before the Belarusian decided she had heard enough of the seagulls and sections of the crowd imitating her shriek – going on a tear to take the final 12 games of the match.
It marks her second 6-1 6-0 scoreline in as many matches and on the back of her title run in Sydney and Caroline Wozniacki’s far-from-impressive second round showing, she is warming as the best chance of joining the Grand Slam winners’ club.
Afterwards, Azarenka praised Dellacqua’s determination to return to the tour, given her lengthy stints on the sidelines with serious shoulder and foot injuries.
Having put those injuries behind her to claim a 30-match winning streak on the ITF circuit late last year, Dellacqua had looked forward to testing her level against a top-10 opponent once more and was equally forthcoming with praise.
“She’s No.3 in the world, and is a bloody good player. So I think she will be tough to beat. I think she’s hitting the ball phenomenally well, moving well, not really making any errors,” Dellacqua said of Azarenka’s form.
“I know it wasn’t my best night, but … you know I have played girls top 10 in the world before. It’s just a whole other level, and I haven’t had that in the last three years almost.”
For Azarenka, the draw is beginning to open up nicely. She next faces in-form qualifier Mona Barthel with eighth seed Agnieszka Radwanska the only top-20 player left in her quarter of the draw
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