MELBOURNE, Australia - They're good friends and have been playing against each other all their lives, but there was only room for one of them in the Australian Open semifinals and it was Victoria Azarenka who came through, making it past Agnieszka Radwanska on a muggy Tuesday, 67(0) 60 62.
Azarenka took an early 2-0 lead but Radwanska caught up right away, and the two stayed neck-and-neck throughout the first set, neither leading by more than a game the rest of the way. Radwanska blanked Azarenka in the tie-break though, getting five unforced errors from Azarenka and hitting two winners of her own - a backhand down the line and an ace up the middle - to win it, 7-0.
The first set saw Azarenka with a -13 differential (12 winners, 25 errors) but she shook it off incredibly, going +14 in the next two sets combined (27 winners, 13 errors) and winning 12 of the last 14 games of the match. It was her 18th win in her last 21 matches and sent her into her second Grand Slam semifinal, also going that far at Wimbledon last year (where she fell to Petra Kvitova).
"It was very important to see how I could adjust after not playing really well in the first set. I completely turned it around, so I'm really, really happy about that," Azarenka said after the match. "Maybe two years ago I would be like, 'Okay it's not working today.' But today I really tried to forget about the first set and start from zero and really fight hard, take it one at a time and keep going."
Azarenka has struggled in hot conditions before, but showed no cracks in her armor whatsoever. "Your mind is sometimes boiling and it's difficult to think. Plus you have somebody on the opposite side of the net that is making you a little bit crazy, and you have to keep it together. But it's a learning process. It has taken a lot of time. I still think it's the hardest thing to do out there."
Radwanska fell to 0-5 in Grand Slam quarterfinals, having already fallen at this stage here in 2008 and 2011 and at Wimbledon in 2008 and 2009.
"It was a very good match, especially the first set," Radwanska said. "After the first set she started to play very aggressively and much better - I was really in trouble. She was hitting the ball very hard and good. I was trying. I was focusing and trying to play my game. Obviously in the second set I just didn't make it."
Radwanska was asked about Azarenka's chances going forward. "For sure she has a big chance to be in the final, especially if she is going to play like today," the Pole said. "She's very consistent. I think this is her big opportunity."
