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Thursday, 10 January 2013

Victoria Azarenka and Australian Open 2013


Victoria Azarenka started 2013 on a winning note, winning her first 2 matches of the season handily, but then withdrew from her semi-final match against Serena Williams due to infection on her toe due to bad pedicure.

Azarenka is the defending champion of the Australian Open and the top seed for the tournament.

Let us see what are Azarenka’s chances of doing well at the Australian Open.

Victoria Azarenka and Australian Open 2013 – Based on the past results of the top seeds at Australian Open

The trend of the past top seeds shows that Victoria Azarenka is the favourite for the Australian Open title. The top seeds have won the Australian Open title in 12 of the past 25 years. The last top seed to win the Australian Open was Serena Williams in 2010, when she defended her Australian Open title for the first time and won her 5th Australian Open trophy.

It is interesting to note that a top seed has never lost before the 4th round of the Australian Open for the past 25 years when the tournament changed the surface from grass to hard courts.

Top seeds have been impressive
. 23-2 in the 4th round of the Australian Open;
. 19-4 in the quarter-finals;
. 17-2 in the semi-finals; and
. 12-5 in the championship match

How far will Azarenka go? Will Azarenka become the first player in the last 25 years to fall before the 4th round or will she continue the trend of going deep into the Australian Open?

Victoria Azarenka and Australian Open 2013 – Based on the past results of Azarenka at Australian Open

Azarenka has 3rd most wins at the Melbourne parks among the top 8 players going 21-6 in the Australian Open life-time. 3 of those 6 losses have come at the hands of 5 time Australian Open champion Serena Williams.

Azarenka has lost the opener at the Australian Open just once and that came on her debut in 2006, when she came off the qualifiers to lose in straight sets to then 32nd seed Sania Mirza. Since then she has always made it to the 3rd round of the Australian Open. However, she has never gone into the Australian Open ranked no.1 before. This is her first time entering the Australian Open as the top seed.

Just like I mentioned in the Maria Sharapova’s preview, Azarenka will be keeping her fingers crossed for the placement of Serena Williams in the draw and will be hoping that the 5 time Australian Open champion does not fall in her half of the draw.

Victoria Azarenka’s top spot will be up for grabs at the Australian Open, with the contenders being none other than Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.

Will Victoria Azarenka successfully defend her title and the top spot or will she lose both? Let us wait and watch.

How far do you think Azarneka will make it into the Australian Open?

P.S : Stay tuned for the preview of Novak Djokovic.

For a preview of other players please refer below:

2 comments:

  1. AND it turns out Serena and Vika are in the same half of the draw. Ouch.

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  2. Yup, it will be interesting to watch the semi-final if both make it that far. One really has to feel to Kvitova, though, Schiavone in the first round. Will be updating the draw analysis today hopefully.

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