BRISBANE (Australia), Jan 10: Victoria Azarenka claimed her first title on the WTA tour when she downed France’s Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-1 in the Brisbane International final here on Saturday.
The 19-year-old, from Belarus, was too powerful for Bartoli, with the depth of her groundstrokes forcing the Frenchwoman into a host of errors.
Azarenka’s power and consistency also put Bartoli’s usually reliable serve under enormous pressure and the strain began to show as the match progressed.
Bartoli, 24, served six double faults — two of them to hand the first set to Azarenka — while she made only 63 per cent of her first serves, winning just 45 per cent of them.
In contrast Azarenka didn’t serve a double fault for the entire match and was successful with 71 per cent of her first serves.
The Belarusian broke Bartoli three times in each set in a dominant display and while Bartoli had her chances to break back, she was only able to do so on two occasions.
Azarenka showed no signs of nerves against her older opponent. She wrapped up the first set in 41 minutes then raced to a 4-0 lead in the second. Bartoli broke back to make it 4-1, but Azarenka was not to be denied and she broke back immediately then calmly served out the match.
Meanwhile, in the men’s event Spain’s Fernando Verdasco and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic reached the final after contrasting victories over French opponents.
Verdasco crushed Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 6-1 in 75 minutes in the first semi-final before Stepanek outlasted Richard Gasquet 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in two hours 12 minutes in the second.
Verdasco played almost faultless tennis as he blasted his way past Mathieu, the world number 32.
The second seeded Davis Cup winner broke Mathieu three times in the first set and twice in the second.
Gasquet appeared certain to become the only Frenchman out of seven who started the tournament to reach the final when he raced away with the first set of his semi-final against Stepanek.
He broke Stepanek twice in the opening set and was playing as well as he did when he upset countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals.
However, Gasquet appeared to tire as the match went on and the 30-year-old Stepanek came back into the contest.He broke in the fifth and seventh games of the second set to level the match — his athleticism proving too much for Gasquet to handle.
The two players traded service breaks early in the third set, with games staying on service until the ninth when Stepanek took advantage of some poor serving to make a crucial break. He then comfortably served it out to reach his eighth ATP final and his first since San Jose in February 2008.
Results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Men’s:
Semi-finals: 8-Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) bt 7-Richard Gasquet (France) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4; 2-Fernando Verdasco (Spain) bt Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) 6-2, 6-1.
Women’s:
Final: 2-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) bt 3-Marion Bartoli (France) 6-3, 6-1.
DEMENTIEVA BAGS CROWN
AUCKLAND: World number four Elena Dementieva rallied from a slow start to cruise to a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Elena Vesnina in an all-Russian Auckland Classic final here on Saturday.
After an early lapse by the reigning Olympic champion, in which she dropped her serve in the third game and was down three game points in the fifth, Dementieva came back to win five of the next six games for the first set.
With a powerful forehand and reliable backhand, Dementieva was never troubled in the second set as she raced to her 12th WTA tour singles title.
AMERICAS WIN
HONG KONG: Venus Williams crushed Vera Zvonareva in straight sets to seal victory for the Americas over top seeds Russia in the Hong Kong World Team Challenge on Saturday.
Venus dominated from the start of the match, winning 6-2, 6-2 to give her team an unassailable 3-1 lead in the best-of-five gold group final.
It followed a hard-fought 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win for Gisela Dulko over Anna Chakvetadze after the Americas and Russia were tied at 1-1 overnight.
Wimbledon champion Venus, at six in the world, is ranked just one place higher than her opponent but played on a different level, taking a vice-like grip on the match from the start.
The seven-time Grand Slam winner raced into a 3-0 lead in the first set with two breaks of serve and never allowed her opponent into the match as she pounded the Russian on both sides of the court.
Earlier on Saturday, Jankovic pulled out of the Hong Kong event with flu, throwing her Australian Open preparations into disarray.
Results:
Gold group final (best of five matches):
Singles: Gisela Dulko (Americas) bt Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4; Venus Williams (Americas) bt Vera Zvonareva (Russia) 6-2, 6-2.
Doubles: Venus Williams/Coco Vandeweghe (Americas) bt Anna Chakvetadze/Alexandra Panova (Russia) 6-4, 6-1. (Americas beat Russia 4-1).
Silver group final (best of three matches):
Singles: Zheng Jie (Asia-Pacific) bt Michelle Larcher de Brito (Europe) 6-1, 6-1. (Asia-Pacific beat Europe 3-0).—Agencies
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