Third seed Victoria Azarenka has broken through the brick wall that is Agnieszka Radwanska to progress to the semifinals of a major for just the second time in her career.
Azarenka fought back from a set behind after getting whitewashed in the tiebreak to dominate the next two sets, running away with a 6-7(0) 6-2 6-0 win.
A contrast of styles welcomed the crowd at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday. Azarenka, once described (jokingly) by good friend Caroline Wozniacki as a "brainless ball-basher" is an attacking machine. Radwanska, on the other hand, plays a similar game to Azarenka's friend Wozniacki – she prefers the safety of playing well inside the lines and has turned ball retrieval into an art form.
Especially in the opening set, Radwanska's incessant chasing kept many rallies going that would have been well and truly over earlier had it been any other player on the court. The eighth seed's ability to make Azarenka play an extra ball or two won her many points thanks to Azarenka’s errors.
It was the Belarusian, however, who jumped out to an early lead, only to be reeled back in by Radwanska. In total there were eight breaks of serve in the first set alone, so it was only fair that it be settled by a tiebreak.
"To be honest, it was very good match, especially the first set," Radwanska said. "It was very tight. On the other side it was kind of weird because a lot of breaks, you know. I think whole set was just breaks. Service was not the big weapon in this case."
With the first set on a knife's edge, it was Azarenka who gifted her opponent the perfect start – three unforced errors from the third seed's racquet gave the eighth seed a big advantage, which she refused to give up. The Polish No.1 didn't put a foot wrong in the tiebreak, winning it 7-0 as Azarenka took her frustrations to the change of ends.
"I think it was very important to see how I could adjust after not playing really well in the first set. I completely turned it around, so I'm really, really happy about that," Azarenka said after the match.
It was a more focused Azarenka who started the second set. Having only made it past the quarterfinal stage of a major once before, the Belarusian was determined to be among the final four again.
Azarenka continued her relentless attack on the ball, but the unforced errors that plagued her in the first set were a thing of the past as she took a page from the book of Radwanska and improved her consistency.
"She just start to play very aggressive and much better. I was really in trouble," was Radwanska's take on her shift in fortunes following the first set.
"Today I really tried to forget about the first set and start from zero and really, you know, fight hard, you know, really take it one at a time and keep going. So I think that was a different mental approach a little bit," Azarenka said.
Radwanska would win just two more games for the match as Azarenka stepped confidently into the first semifinal spot in the draw.
After the match, Azarenka spoke about how she had matured as a player thanks to a conversation with her grandmother that put things in perspective.
"My grandmother is incredible person. She worked all her life until she was 71, I think. We had to make her sign a paper that she's going to give up her job. We actually had to do that, because she would get up 5:00 in the morning and still go to work.
"It was just kind of a little bit stupid for me to worry about, ‘Oh, my God. I lost a tennis match’. So what? I mean, life goes on and you keep going. It's just a tennis match. You have to look in a bigger picture."
Azarenka will now prepare for a much tougher match – a meeting with defending champion Kim Clijsters who, despite having an injured ankle, totally outplayed world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in their quarterfinal.
"Kim is great champion. She knows how to be in the situation, handle big matches," Azarenka said.
Before leaving Rod Laver Arena, Azarenka's vanquished opponent, Radwanska, had some final thoughts on Azarenka's chances of winning her maiden Grand Slam title.
"You know, for sure she have big chance to be in the final, especially if she going to play like today. She's very consistent. I think this is her big opportunity here."
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