World No.1 Victoria Azarenka barely broke a sweat all week at the China Open, including the Sunday’s final against world No.2 Maria Sharapova, to claim the $848,000 prize and her fifth title of the season (after Sydney, Australian Open, Doha and Indian Wells). Alize Cornet won just one game against Azarenka, 6-1 6-0 in the first round, Sabine Lisicki fell 6-4 6-2 in the second, Elena Vesnina 6-3 6-3 in the third, Romina Oprandi 6-2 6-0 in the quarterfinals, ninth seed Marion Bartoli 6-4 6-2 in the semis and second seed Maria Sharapova 6-3 6-1 in the final. You can’t ask for a better run to a WTA title, let alone a Premier Mandatory one.
For the amazing third time in the hardcourt finals this year, Azarenka thrashed Sharapova. In the Australian Open final she beat her 6-3 6-0, in the Indian Wells final 6-2 6-3 and today the score was alike. Truth be said, both players had a negative differential of winners to unforced errors, but Azarenka was much better with -7 compared to Sharapova’s -21, which included 39 unforced errors.
Azarenka has Linz and the WTA Championships left on the schedule for 2012, while Sharapova will focus just on the WTA Championships. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)
Time for all the little tennis-playsters [the spell-check wants me to correct it to “sisters-in-law”!] to switch from screaming to whooping – no?! Well, no – according to my own little girl who despises both of them ‘models’, while, as of now, soundlessly and soundly beating her noisy opponents, wherever she meets them. You go, girl, and all your like-minded little big friends, until we forget that there had ever been any screamers and/or whoopers in women’s tennis, at all.