Sun, 10/24/2010 - 22:10 by harsheeb
Moscow -- Victoria Azarenka collected her second title of the year Sunday with a straight-set victory over Maria Kirilenko at the Kremlin Cup tennis tournament in Moscow.
Azarenka, the tournament's No. 2 seed, piled up six service breaks in defeating Kirilenko 6-3, 6-4. It was fourth career WTA title and second since August when she won at Stanford.
She capped the match with a break, jumping out ahead 40-0 and, after the sixth-seeded Kirilenko staved off three break points, won the last two points and the title.
Azarenka had three breaks in each set, which offset the three breaks against her serve. She won 57 percent of the points in the match with a solid edge (33-26) in points won off Kirilenko's serve.
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Sat, 10/23/2010 - 06:59 by Prince damin
Moscow -- Second-seeded Victoria Azarenka took a straight-set victory Friday that boosted her into the semifinals of the Kremlin Cup tennis tournament in Moscow.
Azarenka topped No. 7-seeded Alisa Kleybanova 6-1, 6-3. She dropped serve just once while recording five breaks in the eight games served by Kleybanova.
No. 6-seeded Maria Kirilenko had the easiest time in Friday's quarterfinals, beating Zarina Diyas 6-1, 6-2 in 66 minutes. Kirilenko won 65 percent of the points in the match and lost only nine points in seven service games.
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Sun, 08/01/2010 - 10:48 by Rakhi
Palo Alto, Calif. -- Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka will vie for the championship of the $700,000 Bank of the West Classic after both won semifinals matches Saturday.
The fifth-seeded Sharapova had to rally from a first-set loss, eventually prevailing over third-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 at Taube Family Tennis Stadium on the Stanford University campus.
In Saturday's other semifinal, Azarenka of Belarus marked her 21st birthday by upsetting top-seeded Australian Samantha Stosur in straight sets 6-2, 6-3.
Sharapova has won two of three all-time matches between the pair. The Russian will be looking for her 23rd career title and third of the year while Azarenka is seeking her fourth championship and first of the year.
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Mon, 05/03/2010 - 09:45 by Rakhi
Rome -- Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Russia's Nadia Petrova notched wins Sunday in the first round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome.
Rainy conditions on the clay courts of the Foro Italico made for dicey conditions as only nine of the 11 scheduled matches were completed.
Azarenka, the No. 9 seed, breezed to a 6-1, 6-4 straight set win over Kazakh qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva.
Meanwhile, 14th-seeded Petrova had little trouble with Italy's Tathiana Garbin, 6-3, 6-2.
In a minor upset, 15th-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva fell victim to Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-0.
Other winners Sunday included Russia's Maria Kirilenko and Italians Alberta Brianti and Maria Elena Camerin.
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Wed, 04/07/2010 - 10:12 by Pankaj Damin
Marbella, Spain -- Victoria Azarenka of Belarus downed Austrian Yvonne Meusburger 6-3, 6-0 Tuesday in the opening round of the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella, Spain.
With the win, the top-seeded Azarenka will advance to meet Spanish wild card Estrella Cabeza Candela in the second round.
Other winners in Tuesday's first-round action included No. 5 Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who dispatched Swiss Stefanie Voegele 6-4, 6-3, and seventh-seeded Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues, who had little trouble with compatriot Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-1, 6-4.
Another Spanish player, Carla Suarez Navarro -- last year's Marbella second-place finisher -- rolled over Italian Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-0.
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Tue, 03/16/2010 - 10:29 by Rakhi
Indian Wells, Calif. -- Third-seeded Victoria Azarenka was an upset victim Monday, falling to 28th-seeded Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Calif.
The scores were 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.
The other top seeds in action Monday came out on top, with No. 6 Jelena Jankovic beating Sara Errani 2-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4; eighth-seeded Samantha Stosur dropping No. 25 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-0; No. 12 Vera Zvonareva eliminating Anastasija Sevastova 6-2, 6-3; and 13th-seeded Yanina Wickmayer beating Roberta Vinci 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
Seventeenth-seeded Shahar Peer defeated Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1.
Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).
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Thu, 10/29/2009 - 10:07 by shalini.bahadur
Doha, Qatar -- Serena Williams defeated her sister Venus Wednesday at the Sony Ericsson Championships and also learned she would end the year as the No. 1 player in the world.
Williams went into the season-ending event ranked second behind Dinara Safina and needed to post more victories this week than Safina to pass her and claim the top spot. Safina, however, retired from her opening round-robin match Wednesday and gave up a chance to end the season as No. 1 for the first time in her career.
It is the second time Williams has concluded a season ranked on top. She also did so in 2002.
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Wed, 10/28/2009 - 10:47 by shalini.bahadur
Doha, Qatar -- Serena Williams opened with a win and Venus Williams with a loss Tuesday in the Sony Ericsson Championship -- the year's last event on the women's tennis tour.
The eight-player tournament divides the players into two groups and those within each group play a round-robin schedule to determine Saturday's semifinalists.
The Williams sisters are in the same group along with Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva. Serena defeated Kuznetsova, the French Open champion, 7-6 (8-6), 7-5.
Dementieva won for the first time in seven tries against Venus 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.
In the other group, Victoria Azarenka was a 6-2, 6-3 winner over former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic. Dinara Safina and Caroline Wozniacki will not play until Wednesday.
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Mon, 09/21/2009 - 17:49 by shalini.bahadur
Daytona Beach, Fla., Sept. 21: Dinara Safina continues to hold the No. 1 women's ranking but countrywoman Svetlana Kuznetsova slipped two places in the Top Ten this week.
Safina's lead over second-ranked Serena Williams narrowed to 533 points with No. 3 Venus Williams another 1,162 points behind her sister to control the top of the rankings.
Kuznetsova, one of three Russians in the Top 10, is 8-6 since beating Safina in the finals at Wimbledon and dropped two spots in rankings released Monday, going from fourth to sixth. That allowed Elena Dementieva to return to the No. 4 ranking and Caroline Wozniacki to move from sixth to a career-best No. 5
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Tue, 04/28/2009 - 14:02 by Salinder Kumar
Stuttgart (Germany), April 28: Victoria Azarenka won the first women's tennis indoor clay court match on the WTA Tour while new world No.1 Dinara Safina enjoyed a birthday cake.
The fourth-seeded Belarussian Azarenka routed Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-4 in the first round of the Porsche Grand Prix here Monday.
Azarenka, 19, is one of the hottest players this years with three titles Brisbane, Memphis and the Miami Masters.
Formerly played in October on carpet, the Porsche Grand Prix is now the first official WTA clay court tournament held indoors as the buildup in Europe for the French Open starts in earnest.
Safina said she feels comfortable in the conditions as she has already played several Fed Cup ties for Russia on the dirt under a roof.
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Mon, 04/06/2009 - 21:04 by Shruti Sharma
St. Petersburg, Fla -- Victoria Azarenka's stunning straight-set win over No. 1-ranked Serena Williams bumped the Belarusian to a career-high No. 8 world rating.
Azarenka used a tough game of deep ground strokes that Williams, slowed by a leg injury, had trouble handling in Saturday's tournament final. Azarenka came away a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Williams at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. It was her third tournament win of the year and moved her to eighth in the world.
Williams is still ranked No. 1 and Dinara Safina is second. Elena Dementieva moved into third, knocking Jelena Jankovic to fourth. Venus Williams, who lost to her sister Serena in a tight three-set match in the semifinals, went from sixth to fifth in Monday's rankings.
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Sun, 04/05/2009 - 01:45 by rcrchauhan
Miami, April 4 -- Victoria Azarenka, the 11th seed, easily beat top-seeded Serena Williams 6-3, 6-1 Saturday to win the women's Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.
The native of Minsk, Belarus, took full advantage of the gimpy two-time champion by winning 10 of the match's final 11 games.
Williams, the top-ranked player in women's tennis, clearly was hampered by a left leg injury that limited her power and mobility.
The 19-year-old Azarenka captured her third tournament this season after winning the Brisbane (Australia) International in January and the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships at Memphis in February.
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