Azarenka retains Australian Open title
Maintains No. 1 ranking after rallying to defeat China’s Li Na
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — After the tears and the explanations, Victoria Azarenka was expecting to be the finalist with the biggest obstacles to surmount Saturday.
She has been far from her relentless best at this Australian Open for reasons that still remain unclear, and she expected to be greeted with hostility after an emotional two days in which she was widely criticized for seeking medical attention at a critical phase of her semifinal vic- tory over the American teenager Sloane Stephens.
But as it turned out at Rod Laver Arena, Li Na was the finalist who was in for a traumatic evening in Rod Laver Arena, and in a momentumswinging final interrupted by fireworks and, yes, more medical timeouts, Azarenka successfully defended her title by rallying to win, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Li, the 30-year-old Chinese star who was also a finalist here in 2011, twisted her ankle twice and even said she had blacked out for a moment after the back of her head slammed onto the court surface early in the third set, after her second tumble.
“Maybe if I’m not falling down, it’s another story,” Li said. “You never know. But the truth: I was falling down, so nothing can change.”
The victory allowed Azarenka, the globe-trotting 23-year-old from Belarus, to retain the No. 1 ranking ahead of Serena Williams, and it was testimony to Azarenka’s powers of resilience and concentration considering all the disruptions and negative energy coming her way on and off court last week.
“She’s solid, she’s tough,” her coach, Sam Sumyk, said. “I know that, and I knew that before. I wasn’t really worried about that part.
“We sat up and spoke about this last night. I’m not look- ing for credit, but our conclusion was, let’s do everything we can to let the racket talk.”
When it was over, Azarenka dropped that racket, eyes wide, and was soon on her chair sobbing into a towel after shaking hands with Li, who shed a few tears of her own.
“It’s been a long match, it’s been a tough match,” Azarenka said. “Li Na was absolutely playing great tennis. Unfortunate things that happened to her, you know, but that’s sport. But I’m just happy that everything I went through, I still could manage to give my best and really come out there and try to focus on my game and play tennis that I can produce. And that’s the thing I love to do, is to compete.”
Azarenka’s baseline-hugging power game is the nearperfect fit for the true-bouncing, hard court version of the sport. And this victory, which required two hours, 40 minutes, allowed Azarenka to join an elite club. She is now the fifth active women’s player with more than one Grand Slam singles title. The others: Serena Williams with 15; Venus Williams, seven; Maria Sharapova, four; and Svetlana Kuznetsova, two.
Azarenka dropped a set to Jamie Hampton of the United States in the third round and then lost her composure against Stephens.
With Stephens about to serve to stay in the match at 4-5 in the second set, Azarenka was treated on a change- over after complaining of breathing problems. She was eventually taken off the court for a medical timeout. The break lasted nearly 10 minutes, and Stephens’s coach, David Nainkin, later suggested Azarenka had “bent” the rules to shift the momentum.
In her first service game, against Li, a fan shouted “Azarenka, quiet please!” — a reference to her extended wails during play. And the support for Li became more evident as the match progressed, fans shouting their encouragement while greeting most of Azarenka’s winners with polite, even subdued, applause.
“I was expecting way worse, to be honest,” she said.