NEW YORK—The court is not a cliff, but Victoria Azarenka spent much of today’s second-round match creating combinations that pushed Kristen Flipkens into playing on the edge.
Commanding the center of the court, Azarenka delivered a 65-minute tutorial on using the cross-court drive to corner the opposition. The world No. 1 broke serve four times and permitted just four points on her first serve in cruising into the third round with a 6-2, 6-2 victory.
Azarenka’s approach to the match and her commitment to attacking the ball early to break down an outclassed opponent was reminiscent of fellow Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic’s three-set dissection of qualifier Paolo Lorenzi last night. While Djokovic can squeeze the court with his acrobatic defensive skills, Azarenka does it by ripping the ball near the sidelines sending the unfortunate opponent into a series of side to side sprints. The top seed resembled the demanding trainer turning up the speed on the tennis treadmill and draining the legs and lungs of the 133rd-ranked Belgian qualifier.
Playing just her second Tour-level main draw of the year, Flipkens was understandably tight, as she double faulted and netted a slice backhand to face double break point before scattering another double fault deep to hand Azarenka a break in the third game. The top seed’s lone trouble spot of the set came when she netted a backhand to face break point, but she ran off three points to consolidate for 3-1.
Former U.S. Open junior champion Flipkens can volley and has the shots to play all-court tennis—she upset U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur en route to the ‘s-Hertogenbosch semifinals in June—but she made the fatal mistake of trying to extend Azarenka in baseline rallies in the opening set. She found herself forced to defend from positions that looked closer to Forest Hills than the net. Successive backhands sailed as Azarenka broke again with a quiet “come on” for 5-2, and she served out the opening set in 27 minutes.
The Flipkens backhand could not offer much resistance to Azarenka’s onslaught. At times, watching Flipkens use her one-handed chip to try to ward off a barrage of two-handed backhands from Azarenka was like watching a solitary security guard try to hold back a crowd from rushing through the front gates. The backhand betrayed the Belgian again as Azarenka broke at love for a 3-2 second-set lead. The 23-year-old Belarussian, who won 14 of 18 net approaches, confirmed the break at 15 before breaking again to extend the lead to 5-2 after one hour of play.
The accuracy of Azarenka’s strokes was a key component to her 26-0 start to the season that saw her win Sydney, Melbourne, Doha, and Indian Wells in succession. She hasn’t won a title since beating Maria Sharapova in the desert last March, but fresh off her mixed doubles gold medal and bronze singles medal the London Games, she looks empowered and has dropped just five games in reaching the third round.
Azarenka will play Zheng Jie for a spot in the fourth round as she continues her quest for her first quarterfinal appearance in New York. Azarenka has won two of of their three meetings.
—Richard Pagliaro
