Victoria Azarenka is the latest of the east European champions to emerge at the top of the women’s circuit, but she is one who seems to be improving with every passing Grand Slam. Unlike some of the others who burst on to the scene, she has steadily worked up the rankings and now has two Grand Slams under her belt. She is a smart, efficient performer and other than the now famous grunt, she is a quiet, reserved girl.
I know her opponent Serena Williams is a formidable one, especially in her own city, New York, but Azarenka has been in finals before and I would hesitate to write her off in Sunday’s US Open final. This was the match-up last year as well but I think Azarenka has grown in the intervening 12 months. I think she has had a tough draw with some challenging players like Alize Cornet and Ana Ivanovic along the way, and that always toughens you before the big games in a tournament.
In Friday night’s semi-final against the veteran Italian Flavia Pennetta, Azarenka played a well-organised game that ensured she did not have to expend too much energy. The conditions were slightly blustery and both players struggled with their serves, more so the Italian. However, Azarenka managed to do just enough to take the first set and in the second one, she was the dominant player she can be once she finds her grinding groundstrokes.
Serena was even more impressive as she made shortwork of Li Na, who is a very good player. She allowed the Chinese girl just three games in their semi-final and has dropped just 16 games in the whole tournament — a testimony to her complete domination of the tournament so far. The swirling conditions did not help Li Na and Serena made matters worse by simply not allowing her to find any sort of rhythm in the first set. Li Na looked like she was finding some of her game at the dead end of the match when Serena was at match point. But that was simply a case of too little too late.
If Serena serves like she has so far in the tournament, her Belarusian opponent will really find it heavy going. The defending champion has been superb in this department right through the tournament, and we all know, when Serena serves well, Serena wins almost always. Almost.
The women’s side of the draw would offer some cheer to the home crowd and to American supporters of tennis because there is some young talent coming through. Sloane Stephens has been looking promising since the grasscourt season and we saw other promising talents like Christina McHale. There has been a bit of a drought since the Williams sisters burst on to the scene a decade-and-a-half ago, but these girls have the potential to take their game to the top level.
— Gameplan
