For a day and a half, the WTA Championships in Istanbul had good players, good crowds, and a surface color that was much easier on the eye than last year's. The only thing the tournament lacked was a compelling match. None of its first four contests set the world on fire with high-quality shotmaking, or went longer than two sets. But the fifth match of the week, between Victoria Azarenka and Angelique Kerber, did both.
For three hours, Azarenka cracked lasers to the corners, Kerber tracked them down, and then they got up and did it all over again. Vika, who was just two wins away from securing the year-end No. 1 ranking, was wired tight for this one; throughout, she worked hard to use her intensity without letting it boil over. But boil over it did, and Azarenka’s racquet took the brunt of her fury more than once. Meanwhile, Kerber, who seemed happy to be in Istanbul and wrapping up a long season, was relaxed and having fun. On another day, at another event, she might have gone away quickly, and angrily, after losing two match points in the second set. But the German competed until the end, and gave the crowd, who had warmed to her, a warm thank you in return.
There were many highlights. Kerber hustling and counterpunching to fight off six set points and win the first-set tiebreaker 13-11. Kerber coming from down a break in the second set and holding after a nine-deuce game at 4-4. Azarenka, in her following service game, saving two match points with big, confident cuts that can only be described as Djoko-esque. Kerber, in the third set, again refusing to go easily; she broke serve at 3-5 before being broken one last time for the match. Azarenka, closing it with one more forehand winner and celebrating her 6-7 (11), 7-6 (2), 6-4 win with a fearsome fist-pump.
The stats tell much of the story of this very close, no-punches-pulled slugfest: Azarenka hit 45 winners and made 40 unforced errors, while Kerber had 49 and 43. They used the whole court while they were at it. Each woman came up with severe crosscourt angles on their backhands, and lasered the corners with their down the line forehands.
Kerber won over the crowd with her scrambling and her grit, but this was a No. 1-worthy win for Azarenka. She battled her opponent and herself, made plenty of mistakes, but never seemed to lose belief in her shots or her ability to come back. In recent years, we’ve seen the top ranking on the WTA tour have a debilitating effect on certain players. With Azarenka in 2012, we’ve seen the opposite, and we saw the opposite in this match. The pride she takes in being No. 1, and the confidence she’s gained since being there, is what got her through today.