Third seed Victoria Azarenka shrugged off the crowd’s mockery over her distinctive screaming as she blitzed local favourite Casey Dellacqua to reach the Australian Open’s third round Wednesday. Azarenka, who is unbeaten this year after winning this month’s Sydney International, extended her superb form as she downed Dellacqua 6-1, 6-0 in the final match in the Rod Laver Arena.
The Belarusian was in no mood to show any mercy to Dellacqua, who is trying to return to the main tour after a series of major injuries. Dellacqua opened the match with confidence and held her first service game comfortably. But from that point on it was all Azarenka, who attacked relentlessly and maintained her concentration impressively, despite large sections of the crowd mimicking the unusual scream she makes when she hits the ball. Azarenka served well throughout and returned Dellacqua’s serves beautifully, never giving the Australian any time on the ball. Dellacqua’s time away from the sport at the top level was obvious as she made 33 unforced errors, many of them coming at crucial stages, including match point.
Azarenka, who can finish the tournament ranked number one in the world, will take on German qualifier Mona Barthel in the next round. “I thought I played really well today,” she said. “Casey started very aggressively and I tried to hang in there and take my chances.” Azarenka said she had been working hard on her movement around the court and that work was beginning to show dividends. “I’ve been working on my fitness in the off-season, more on fitness than tennis, so I am glad it’s paying off,” she said.
