Number two seed Victoria Azarenka will contest her second final in the Sunshine State in the space of a year when she meets third-seeded Marion Bartoli tonight at Pat Rafter Arena.
In early 2008 Azarenka fell to Li Na in the fi nal of the Australian Women’s Hardcourts on the Gold Coast.
Azarenka says she has matured since that loss and is ready to win her first title.“I think I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in my tennis career,” she told reporters after her comprehensive 6-3 6-1 win over Italy’s Sara Errani in the semifinals.
While the 19-year-old Azarenka will be striving for her first career title, Bartoli will be shooting for number four and the first since 2006 when she
won three WTA titles for the year.
Today’s final will be only the second time these two players have faced each other. The last time they met was at the Australian Open in 2007. On that occasion Azarenka accounted for Bartoli in straight sets.
Azarenka has looked sharp all week, her heavy groundstrokes have proven to be too much to handle for all comers to this point – so much so she is yet to drop a set this week.
Azarenka has made four WTA finals, but is yet to get her hands on the silverware. If she can continue to play the way she has this week there’s a good chance her lean run in finals will end some time this evening.
Following the women’s singles final is the women’s doubles final. Polish duo Klaudia Jans and Alicja Rosollska will take on Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Vania King of Germany and the United States respectively.
The day session belongs to the men with semifinals action in the singles and doubles.
First up, No.3 seed Fernando Verdasco will duel with France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu for a spot in the fi nal. The second match on Pat Rafter Arena is the men’s semifinal between No.8 seed Radek Stepanek and No.7 seed Richard Gasquet.
The men’s doubles semifinals will follow with Australians Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione taking on Fernando Verdasco and Mischa Zverev.
The final match of the day session will pit Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
and Marc Gicquel against Travis Parrott and Filip Polasek.
Have you picked your team of tennis aces?
You have until the start of play at the Australian Open to select a team of 16 men and 16 women in our online fantasy game SuperTennis.
Points will be awarded for the performance of your team members and you can switch the mix around right up until 19 January.
The SuperTennis selector with the most points wins a cash prize of AUD$5000.
Go to www.supertennis.com.au to register your team today.