Viktoriya Fiodorovna Azarenka, also known as Victoria Azarenka (Belarusian: Вікторыя Азарэнка, Азаранка, Russian: Виктория Фёдоровна Азаренко; born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Her career high ranking is World No. 4, which she achieved on 9 May 2011. Her current ranking is World No. 4 at Wimbledon 2011. She became the highest-ranked Belarusian player ever, surpassing Natasha Zvereva by one spot.
Azarenka has won two mixed doubles Grand Slam titles – 2007 US Open with Max Mirnyi and 2008 French Open with Bob Bryan. She has won seven singles titles, including the Premier Mandatory Sony Ericsson Open in 2009 and 2011 and has made one Grand Slam semifinal appearance at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships and five quarterfinal appearances.
Her move to Scottsdale from Minsk, Belarus was aided by National Hockey League goalie Nikolai Khabibulin and his wife, who is a friend of Azarenka's mother. In 2009 she posed in the French edition of FHM
In 2005, Azarenka won the Australian Open and US Open as a junior and was named the ITF Junior Girls World Champion for that year, the first player from Belarus to do that. She also won her first ITF title in Pétange, Luxembourg in the same year. In Guangzhou, China, she reached her first pro-level semi-final, winning three qualifying rounds and defeating Martina Suchá and Shuai Peng in the main draw before losing to eventual champion Yan Zi.
In 2006, at the event in Memphis, Azarenka defeated her first top-20 player, Nicole Vaidišová, and two months later defeated her second top-30 player in Jelena Janković at Miami. On clay, Azarenka pushed 2004 French Open champion Anastasia Myskina to 7–6 in the third in Rome, and took clay-court specialist Anabel Medina Garrigues to 9–7 in the third set in the first round at Roland Garros. At the 2006 US Open, she had her first win over Myskina in the first round and lost to Anna Chakvetadze in the third round, her best result in a grand slam event to that date. In her next tournament, Azarenka reached her second pro-level semi-final in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, losing to Tiantian Sun. She finished the year reaching the final of an ITF event in Pittsburgh, losing to Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak.
Ranked World Number 96, Azarenka began the year by playing two tournaments in Australia. She lost in the second round at the Moorilla Hobart International to Serena Williams. At the Australian Open, Azarenka reached the third round of a Grand Slam singles tournament for the second consecutive time, where she lost to World Number 11 Jelena Janković in straight sets. She was upset in the first round of the French Open by Karin Knapp of Italy, and at Wimbledon, she lost in the third round to 14th-seeded Nicole Vaidišová.
At the US Open, Azarenka upset former World Number 1 Martina Hingis in the third round before 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova beat her in the fourth round. In mixed doubles, Azarenka and countryman Max Mirnyi won the title, defeating Meghann Shaughnessy and Leander Paes. She ended her year at the Tier I Kremlin Cup in Moscow where she upset World Number 4 Maria Sharapova in the second round. She then lost to the eventual winner of the tournament, World Number 14 Elena Dementieva, in the quarter-final. At the same tournament, Azarenka and her doubles partner Tatiana Poutchek, also of Belarus, lost in the final to the World Number 3 team of Liezel Huber and Cara Black in three sets. Azarenka's results at the Kemlin Cup elevated her rankings to career highs of World Number 27 in singles and World Number 29 in doubles.
Azarenka began the year at the Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts tournament in Gold Coast, Australia. Unseeded, she reached the semi-finals, where she beat fifth-seeded Shahar Pe'er of Israel, Azarenka's sixth top 20 victory. In her third career WTA tour final, she lost to Li Na, but the points she earned in this tournament were enough to improve her ranking to a career-best World Number 25.
Azarenka was seeded 26th at the Australian Open. This was her first appearance as a seeded player in a Grand Slam singles tournament. She showed no ill effects from a leg injury while winning her first two matches but lost in the third round to seventh-seeded and defending champion Serena Williams. In doubles, Azarenka and her partner Pe'er were seeded 12th. They made it to the finals before losing to the unseeded team of Kateryna and Alona Bondarenko.
She was seeded 16th at the French Open. She defeated 18th-seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy in the third round before losing to fourth-seeded Kuznetsova in the fourth round. Azarenka teamed with American Bob Bryan to win the mixed doubles title at the French Open, defeating the top seeded team of Katarina Srebotnik and Nenad Zimonjić in the final.
At Wimbledon, Azarenka was seeded 16th in singles and 6th in doubles (with Pe'er). In singles, Azarenka was defeated by 21st-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia in the third round. In doubles, Azarenka and Pe'er reached the quarter-finals where they lost to the top-seeded team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber.
Azarenka was seeded 14th at the US Open but was defeated by 21st seeded Caroline Wozniacki in the third round.
Azarenka began the year at the Brisbane International as the second seed. She defeated Kateryna Bondarenko, Jarmila Groth, Lucie Šafářová and Sara Errani all in straight sets to reach her fifth career final. In the final Azarenka defeated third seed Marion Bartoli 6–3, 6–1 to win her first WTA career title.
Azarenka was seeded 13th at the Australian Open. She advanced to the fourth round for the first time, winning the first set against World No. 2 Serena Williams before she was forced to retire because of heat stress with the score being 6–3, 2–4.
Azarenka began the season at the Hong Kong Tennis Classic exhibition. She was part of Team Europe along with Caroline Wozniacki and Stefan Edberg. In her first match she defeated Gisela Dulko 6–1. The match was played best of 1 set due to rain. She withdrew from her remaining matches due to illness. She was seeded 6th at the Medibank International. She won her first three matches, all 7–5 in the 3rd set. In the semifinals she fell to the 5th seed Elena Dementieva 6–3, 6–1.
At the Australian Open she was seeded 7th. She lost to Serena Williams in the quarterfinal 4–6, 7–6(4), 6–2 giving up a 4–0 lead in the second set. This was the third consecutive year she has lost to Williams at this tournament. Seeded 4th at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, on her way to the final, she defeated Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinals and Agnieszka Radwańska in the semifinals. In the final she lost to defending champion Venus Williams 6–3, 7–5. At the 2010 BNP Paribas Open, she was seeded 3rd, but was upset in the 3rd round by María José Martínez Sánchez 7–6(4), 6–2.
Azarenka began her year at the Medibank International as the 7th seed where she lost to Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals 6–3 6–2. At the 2011 Australian Open Azarenka was seeded 8th. She lost to the ninth seed and eventual finalist, Li Na, 6–3 6–3 in the fourth round. Azarenka partnered with Maria Kirilenko in the women's doubles event but the pair lost to Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta in the final.
Azarenka then travelled to Israel to compete in Fed Cup. They beat Croatia, Austria and Greece in the group stage without losing a match. The Belarusian team then defeated Poland 2–0 to qualify for the World Group II Play-Offs in April where they will play Estonia.
Azarenka was the 4th seed at the 2011 French Open. She beat Andrea Hlaváčková in the first round, Pauline Parmentier in the second round, 30th seed Roberta Vinci in the third round and Ekaterina Makarova in the fourth round to reach her fourth career Grand Slam quarterfinal. She lost to Li Na in the quarterfinals.
Azarenka is the 4th seed at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships. She beat 25th seed Daniela Hantuchová in a three set third round match before beating Nadia Petrova. She followed that up with an easy victory over Tamira Paszek. In the semi-finals, Azarenka was beaten by Czech player Petra Kvitová, going down in 3 sets 1–6, 6–3, 2-6 .
Victoria Azarenka Photos
Victoria Azarenka Photos
Victoria Azarenka Photos
Victoria Azarenka Photos
Victoria Azarenka Photos
Victoria Azarenka Photos
Victoria Azarenka Photos
Victoria Azarenka Photos
Victoria Azarenka Photos
Victoria Azarenka Photos
Victoria Azarenka Photos
Victoria Azarenka Photos
Victoria Azarenka Photos
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