Victoria Azarenka may be some way off the 43-match unbeaten run that left the men floundering in Novak Djokovic’s wake in 2011, but on the evidence of her powerhouse thumping of the No 5 player in the world yesterday, who is to say that she may not get pretty close to matching it?
Azarenka, the world No 1, Australian Open champion, Sydney champion and Doha champion, earned a place in the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Agnieszka Radwanska, of Poland. She had served for the match having won the first 11 games, but actually missed a couple of shots, so Radwanska was spared the ultimate embarrassment.
Maybe Azarenka’s meanness of spirit and emphasis of shot may have had something to do with Radwanska’s reaction in Doha when, having lost in the semi-finals (although she did win six games on that occasion), she said that she had lost respect for her opponent for what she felt was akin to play-acting. “I don’t think it was a great image for women’s tennis,” she said.
Neither, it has to be said, is a world No 5 taking only two games, even from the present “It” girl of the game, who is now 21 wins and counting. No one at present is striking the ball with the venom and accuracy of the 22-year-old from Belarus.
In the last eight, Azarenka will play either Li Na or Angelique Kerber in an attempt to reach the semi-finals in the desert for the first time. She is surely looking beyond that, but only Maria Sharapova — whom she demolished 6-3, 6-0 to win her first grand-slam tournament title in Melbourne in January — has the equipment to stop her.
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Leaving the grounds past midnight on Tuesday, Piotr Wozniacki, Caroline’s father, was holding agitated court at a table outside the players’ restaurant. He has much to ponder as his daughter slips in the rankings — she will be No 6 at best at the start of next week — and more fiddling is done with her game. Her last final was in New Haven in August last year and her 6-3, 6-2 defeat by Ana Ivanovic, of Serbia, was numbingly poor.
“I am always more disappointed in myself than he is when I lose and he’s always more happy for me than I am when I win,” Caroline said. “It’s not like it’s a disaster. I’ve been playing pretty consistently and just want to take the next step. My time will definitely come again.”
For Ivanovic, who won this title four years ago, the victory over Wozniacki was evidence that her work with Nigel Sears, the former head of women’s tennis at the LTA, is bearing fruit.
Nicolás Almagro, of Spain, will play Djokovic, the men’s world No 1, in the quarter-finals after a sweet victory over Tomas Berdych, who had refused to shake his hand in Melbourne when he said that Almagro had deliberately aimed a shot at him. At least the Czech had the grace to follow tennis etiquette yesterday after his 6-4, 6-0 thrashing.