“I’m a fan of Peyton Manning, so when he started playing there I just have so much respect for him”, Azarenka said.
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Beck, the French Open junior champion in 2012, seemed overawed by the occasion and quickly lost her opening serve as Kerber dictated the baseline battle with some heavy hitting. Victoria Azarenka surged into an Australian Open quarter-final against Angelique Kerber today, with the odds heavily stacked in the two-time champion’s favour as she guns for a third Grand Slam title.
Victoria Azarenka of Belarus reacts after defeating Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic in their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 25, 2016.
Azarenka is now expecting Kerber to pose her stiffest challenge so far despite having won their past six meetings including the recent Brisbane final.
But it wasn’t straightforward against the risky Czech, who stunned third seed Garbine Muguruza in the last round to secure her first fourth round appearance in Melbourne since her debut in 2004.
Then she took a solid win over World No. 54 Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 6-1, 6-2 and cruised pass Japan’s Naomi Osaka (World No.127) in straight sets 6-1, 6-1.
Raonic dominated in the first two sets, but then Wawrinka went on a roll.
Strycova could manage only two break points when trailing 4-3 in the last set but Azarenka saved both and eased to victory when her opponent committed a 33rd unforced error. “I played smart, aggressively, took my opportunities and I really kept my composure”.
Th 24-year-old, who moved to the United Kingdom when she was a teenager, becomes the first British woman through to the final eight in Melbourne since Jo Durie in 1983. She paused. “OK, I went out to lunch once”.
Monfils beat Russia’s Andre Kuznetsov in four sets, the No. 23 seed winning 7-5 3-6 6-3 7-6, after the unseeded Russian took the second set on Margaret Court Arena and forced a tiebreak in the fourth before Monfils prevailed. At one point in the first set, Azarenka had a comfortable lead when Van Uytvanck served at 40-0, one point from winning what would likely be a meaningless game.
Now she has accounted for Romanian world No. 2 Simona Halep, 33rd-ranked Frenchwoman Alize Cornet, 51st-ranked American Varvara Lepchenko and Keys, who left centre court sobbing. She played very well from the first match here in Melbourne.
“I got myself into the quarter-final of a Grand Slam”, the 2008 Australian Open champion said. “I should have tried to step in maybe”. “Certainly I was trying to just concentrate on the match when I was out there, but, like I said, it’s been a hard, hard few days”. It’s great, I’m very happy, but to be honest I’m already focused on my quarter-final. There is no reason I shouldn’t be looking to improve and to getting my game in a better position than any other previous round. “As you can see I’m a insane sports fanatic, so I understand you guys when you get all nervous and stuff, because I felt that”.
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“It was a tough match and both of us had our chances, Bernie didn’t play his best tiebreak and missed a few easy balls so that helped at the end but he fought right to the end”, Murray said.
