subject: Azarenka: Can The World Number 11 Will Be Going To Make It To The Top 10? [print this page] Victoria Azarenka was born on July 31, 1989 in Minsk, Belarus. She is a tennis player who was known to be the Junior World Champion in 2005. She conquered the 2007 US Open Mixed Doubles Title with her teammate Max Mirny and also the 2008 French Open with Bob Bryan. She resides in Scottsdale, Arizona and trains in Marbella, Spain. On February 23, 2009 she achieved a career high of No. 11 in Singles.
In 2005, Azarenka got both the Australian and US Open as a Junior and was named the ITF Junior Girls World Title for that year. She was the pioneer player from Belarus to do that. She also triumphed her first ITF title in Petange, Luxembourg in the same season. In China, she reached her first pro-level semifinal, winning 3 qualitfying rounds and beating both Martina Such and Shuai Peng in the primary draw before being defeated by the event champ, Yan Zi.
Every morning Azarenka has been one of the first players out in the field to work out. She and her trainer, Mark Wellington, begin slowly. Headphones on, she swings her arms back and forth, then gently tosses and kicks a soccer ball with him. The drills plus the ball eventually speed up until both of them are quick-stepping to manage it in front of them. Usually, you will see tennis players take small intervals during those workouts and share a laugh with their trainer. But not Azarenka. When she can't hit the ball, she stamps her foot in frustration.
The 19-year-old Azarenka won her first WTA Tour Singles Title earlier this year by winning the Brisbane International. The World No.14 Belorussian is now 13-1 this season. That only loss this year was against Serena Williams in the Australian Open, when Azarenka disappointingly had departed from the fourth-round match due to dizziness and illness.
Azarenka posted a 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 6-3 quarter-final win over Safina, who would have claimed the World's No.1 ranking from Serena Williams by reaching the final. However for Azarenka, she ran into a player filled with confidence after taking her first two career WTA Titles this season - in Brisbane and Memphis. Safina seemed to achieve the match up in her grasp when she took a 3-1 lead in the third set, but she couldn't keep the supremacy.
Shahar Pe'er's excellent run in the singles draw at Indian Wells came to an abrupt end, but at the very least she could console herself with moving forward towards the Semi-finals of the doubles event hours later. Despite converting four of her five break points, Pe'er was on her back foot for most of the fight, with Azarenka governing the Israeli's service games, breaking six times.
