Tennis News

BRISBANE, Australia – Victoria Azarenka continued her relentless march towards a second Brisbane International title with a quick-fire quarterfinal win over Roberta Vinci on Thursday night.

Watch live action from Brisbane & Auckland on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Having dropped just seven games across the opening two rounds, Azarenka put No.8 seed Vinci to the sword in similarly ruthless fashion, running out a 6-1, 6-2 winner.

Azarenka set her stall out on the opening point, arrowing a backhand return into the corner. The break swiftly followed and while she was unable to hold onto this for long, she was soon ahead once more thanks to a fizzing double-handed winner.

Twenty minutes later she swatted another backhand away to take the set. In the second, it was the forehand that came to the fore, a brilliant stretching passing shot and a crisp down-the-line winner creating the vital breakthrough in the sixth game.

“I’m pretty pleased with tonight,” Azarenka said. “Thank you for the full crowd – you guys make me play much better, that’s for sure!

“I feel like I was really focused from the beginning and I knew she wasn’t going to give anything away so I had to take control and really dictate the play. I’m glad I stayed strong and focused in the difficult situations and really fought for every point.”

Meeting Azarenka in the last four will be the tournament’s surprise package, Samantha Crawford, who earlier in the day defeated Andrea Petkovic, 6-3, 6-0.

“Nobody gets into the semifinals without playing well so I’ll need to rise to this challenge – it’s a new experience – but I’m just happy to be back in the semifinals and doing something I love,” Azarenka, the 2009 champion, added when asked about meeting Crawford for the first time.

On the other side of the draw, No.4 seed Angelique Kerber continued to play herself into form ahead of the Australian Open with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. While Carla Suárez Navarro came through a topsy-turvy encounter with Varvara Lepchenko, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

SHENZHEN, China – The two remaining seeds in the draw – Agnieszka Radwanska and Eugenie Bouchard – had mixed fortunes on Quarterfinals Day at the $500,000 Shenzhen Open on Thursday.

Watch live action from Brisbane, Shenzhen & Auckland on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

The No.6-seeded Bouchard was the first to take center court and succumbed to an on-fire Timea Babos, who broke once per set and fended off all five break points she faced to prevail, 6-4, 6-4.

Bouchard, who had only played one match since the US Open due to a concussion, was playing her first WTA quarterfinal since last year’s Australian Open – Babos was just too sharp on the day, though.

“Genie’s a great player, and she definitely has more confidence and is playing a lot better than the couple months before, so I’m happy I was solid and managed the tough situations well,” Babos said.

And what about the big serving in those tough situations? “In general, in my game, I have one of the biggest serves on the tour, so it’s a huge advantage for me, definitely. Genie is an aggressive player and takes the return very early – she has great returns – so I had to put a lot of first serves in.

“Thankfully in the big moments I came up with good serves and aces, so it worked out well.”

The No.1-seeded Radwanska took the court straight afterwards and needed just 63 minutes to beat Wang Qiang, 6-3, 6-2, holding all nine of her service games – she saved both break points she faced.

Radwanska has now won 20 of her last 24 matches – including eight in a row on Chinese soil.

“We actually played each other in Tianjin, and I think she played a much better match this time, but I really pushed myself to play my best tennis today,” Radwanska said. “It was a good match for me.”

Up next for the World No.5 is Anna-Lena Friedsam, who won a see-saw battle against Katerina Siniakova in the late match, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1. Radwanska beat Friedsam in the pair’s only meeting.

Babos’ semifinal opponent will be Alison Riske, who rallied past Anett Kontaveit, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

Babos has beaten Riske in both previous meetings, including in Tianjin just a few months ago.

Always love playing in Asia. Fans are great! https://t.co/8CDUy4dBfp

— Aga Radwanska (@ARadwanska) January 6, 2016

SHENZHEN, China – A day after making a winning comeback to the tennis court at the Shenzhen Open, Eugenie Bouchard backed it up to reach her first WTA quarterfinal in almost a year.

Watch live action from Brisbane, Shenzhen & Auckland on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

On Tuesday, Bouchard played her first complete match since suffering her concussion at the US Open, and she was a winner, rallying from 4-2 down in the third set to edge Donna Vekic, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5.

The No.6-seeded Canadian had a much simpler day at the office on Wednesday, dropping serve in the first game of the match but then reeling off 12 of the next 17 games to roll past American qualifier Nicole Gibbs, 6-4, 6-2, breaking serve one last time to win after just 67 minutes on the court.

“It was a solid match from me. I think I was able to improve off of my first round,” Bouchard said.

“But first and foremost I was able to play another whole match healthy, with no pain and no symptoms.”

Bouchard is now through to her first WTA quarterfinal since last year’s Australian Open.

And the Canadian, a former World No.5 and Wimbledon finalist, doesn’t want to stop here.

“Every match that I play gives me a little bit more confidence,” she said. “I know it’s a long road back to recovery and to being back to where I was and even better, so I’m ready for that long journey.

“But, you know, if it’s a little step I can take every day, then I’m happy with that.”

The tournament’s No.1 seed, Agnieszka Radwanska, followed Bouchard onto center court – and into the quarterfinals as well – after a close finish, closing out China’s own Zhang Shuai, 6-1, 7-5.

Radwanska, who’s coming off a fantastic fall season that brought her three WTA titles – including the WTA Finals in Singapore – and took her back to World No.5, has now won 19 of her last 23 matches.

It was a rough day for the other seeds in action, though, with No.3 seed Irina-Camelia Begu retiring down 7-5, 3-2 to Anna-Lena Friedsam due to a right knee injury, No.4 seed Monica Niculescu falling to Timea Babos, 6-1, 6-4, and No.7 seed Zarina Diyas succumbing to Katerina Siniakova, 6-0, 6-4.

First time using a selfie stick ? thank you for staying after the match guys #ilovechina pic.twitter.com/uinuGZruzn

— Genie Bouchard (@geniebouchard) January 6, 2016