Azarenka Holds Off Stosur

Victoria Azarenka tamped down a second-set surge from Samantha Stosur to extend her head-to-head dominance over the Australian and book herself a spot in the BNP Paribas Open quarterfinals.
Victoria Azarenka tamped down a second-set surge from Samantha Stosur to win 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, extending her head-to-head dominance over the Australian and booking herself a spot in the BNP Paribas Open quarterfinals.
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Stosur and Azarenka are familiar opponents, having faced each other nine times previously. Though the Belarusian's eight consecutive wins over Stosur give her a clear advantage, the aggressive way in which she came out firing tonight certainly turned heads - although not for her.
"Not really. I'm not surprised," laughed Azarenka, who in the first set alone created 12 break opportunities and converted three. "I try to stay in the moment for every point. Sam is such a tough player, she has such a tough serve, so whenever I had the opportunity I take it."
After seeing the first set whiz past her in barely half an hour, Stosur managed to stave off Azarenka's momentum in the second. She opened the set by breaking to love, taking advantage of the unforced errors that were beginning to pile up off the Belarusian's racquet. She left Azarenka playing catch-up, taking the second set to level the scoreboard.
Azarenka turned on the pressure in the deciding set, though, and there was not much the Australian could do as Azarenka's aggressive play forced her to go for bigger shots, drawing out the errors. Stosur hit 37 unforced errors to 32 winners, compared to Azarenka's 24 and 25.
With the victory Azarenka is back into the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open, her first appearance at this stage since 2013.
"I'm just so happy to be back on the court after a tough two years of injuries and really missing the game, missing competition. Sometimes you get a little bit of a different perspective, so I just want to enjoy myself on the court," Azarenka said after the match.
"I'm in a different stage in my career, where I can just play for fun and fight hard and try to do the best I can."
Awaiting in the quarterfinals is Magdalena Rybarikova, who advanced against Roberta Vinci after the Italian was forced to retire in the second set due to a left foot injury, 6-2, 2-0. Azarenka leads the head-to-head against Rybarikova 2-0.

Source: WTA Tennis