search
section

Breaking news

Powerful blast hits Damascus, at least 3 dead – state TV

Powerful blast hits Damascus, at least 3 dead – state TV

Azarenka defends Australian Open title

Published time: January 26, 2013 12:03
Edited time: January 26, 2013 16:10
Belarus's Victoria Azarenka (L) addresses the crowd as she holds the trophy after victory in her women's singles final against Li Na of China on day thirteen of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 26, 2013. (AFP Photo/Greg Wood)

Tags

Grand Slam, Tennis

Tennis queen Victoria Azarenka has retained her Australian Open title and No. 1 spot in the WTA ranking with a hard-fought victory over China's Li Na.

Li, the 2011 French Open winner, stunned the favorite in the first set, breaking Azarenka early and not letting the Belarusian cut the deficit right to the end.

Azarenka woke up in the second, racing out to a 3-1 lead before Li slipped and twisted her left ankle. She had it strapped, but apparently had problems pivoting as Azarenka leveled things on court with the same scoreline – 6-4.

The Chinese harnessed her willpower and took a 2-1 lead in the decider, only for Azarenka to strain every sinew and jump to a 4-2 lead. The deficit remained insurmountable for Li, as she capitulated 6-3.

The Belarusian consequently repeated her last year’s success Down Under, which ensured she retained the number one ranking.

"It's been a long two weeks for me," says Azarenka, who collected a winner's cheque for a record $2.43 million.

Comments (5)

Shulbinsky 28.01.2013 02:12

Too bad on the base of her trophy was incribed "BEL" which stands for Belgium rather than for Belarus (BLR). The organizers are proven retards who can't even afford to look up the correct abbreviations...

+2

Undo

Miro Markovic (unregistered) 27.01.2013 03:14

Azarenka is a great athlete and she has proven herself beyond reasonable doubt that she is currently the best at this tournament. Winning the trophy for the second time in a raw is not something that can be done by an accident or by having just a good luck. Not at all. She honorably earned it and may God reward her for her sportsmanship. Now, the western haters of her country's president do not have neither ethical nor moral right in degrading her truly phenomenal achievements. Azarenka has nothing to do with Lukashenko neither Djokovic has anything to do with Milosevic. But the westerns haters don't know how to separate these two outstanding athletes from their countries former or current rulers. Likewise, Andy Murray has nothing to do with Queen Elisabeth II, no brothers Brian have nothing to do with American president, Barak Hussein Obama.

+4

Undo

Parbes 26.01.2013 23:52

@Otto von Bülow:  Virtually the entire Anglosphere "mainstream media" today, are malevolent criminals who need to be punished...

+1

Undo

View all comments (5)
Add comment

By posting your comment, you agree to abide by our Posting rules

Log in to comment in full, or comment anonymously under character-limit restriction.

100 Text

•
• – required fields

Register or

Name

Password

Show password

Register

or Register

Request a new password

Send

or Register

To complete a registration check
your Email:

or Register

A password has been sent to your email address

Edit profile

Name

New password

Retype new password

Current password

Save

Cancel
Where to watch Schedule

Follow us

Recommended

Murray bites into Australian Open final 4

Sharapova crashes out of Australian Open 8

Azarenka too much for Kuznetsova, Williams stunned by Stephens 6

© Autonomous Nonprofit Organization “TV-Novosti”, 2005–2013. All rights reserved.