Victoria Azarenka of Belarus plays a shot in her match against Ysaline Bonaventure of Belgium during the Brisbane International tennis tournament
After two injury-interrupted seasons, Victoria Azarenka is emerging from the shadows of some highly-ranked rivals who have either withdrawn from Australian Open warmup events or lost in the early rounds.
The two-time Australian Open champion reached the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International — a tournament she won in 2009 — with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Ysaline Bonaventure.
Bonaventure, a lucky loser from qualifying, was cast into the second round yesterday as a replacement for top-seeded Simona Halep, who had a bye before withdrawing from a scheduled second-round match with Azarenka because of an Achilles tendon problem.
The No. 2-ranked Halep withdrew within an hour of defending champion Maria Sharapova pulling out of the tournament with a left forearm injury. Top-ranked Serena Williams withdrew from the Hopman Cup in Perth after skipping her first match and retiring in the second set of the U.S. team’s second against Australia Gold because of inflammation in her left knee.
Venus Williams and Ana Ivanovic — the top two seeded players at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand — were beaten in the first round.
Azarenka conceded an early service break against Bonaventure and had seven double-faults in the first set, but otherwise dominated after converting her fifth break-point chance in a fourth game that lasted more than 17 minutes and went to deuce 11 times.
Azarenka who dropped to a year-end No. 22 ranking in December after being restricted to just 23 events across 2014 and ‘15, is working her way back into form.
“I definitely missed playing since I haven’t in a while,” she said. As for the broader issue of injuries, she said: “I’m just going to try to take care of myself right now, and hopefully everybody will be ready for the Australian Open.”
Fourth-seeded Angelique Kerber beat Madison Brengle 6-3, 6-0 to set up a meeting with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, while Andrea Petkovic had a 7-5, 6-4 win over Ekaterina Makarova to move into a quarterfinal against U.S. qualifier Samantha Crawford, who had an upset 7-5, 7-5 win over seventh-seeded Belinda Bencic.
Petkovic, who has struggled in the past with serious injuries, attributed the high attrition rate in January to the extra work players are putting into the conditioning over the off-season.
“If I know them well, the top players, they still will be in good shape when it comes to the Australian Open,” Petkovic said.
In the men’s draw, second-seeded Kei Nishikori opened with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Mikhail Kukushkin to move into the quarterfinals against seventh-seeded Bernard Tomic, a 7-6 (6), 4-6, 7-6 (4) winner over Radek Stepanek.
Third-seeded Marin Cilic beat Chung Hyeon 7-5, 7-6 (3), and No. 8 Dominic Thiem had a 6-3, 6-2 win against Denis Kudla to advance.
At the Hopman Cup mixed teams event in Perth, Western Australia, Germany leveled its record at 1-1 with a 2-1 win over France, which lost for the second time.
Alexander Zverev gave Germany a 1-0 lead with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Kenny De Schepper, but Caroline Garcia beat Sabine Lisicki 6-2, 7-6 (5) to send the match to a mixed doubles decider, which the German pair won 6-4, 6-7 (6), 10-6.
In a night match, Andy Murray lost to Australia Green’s Nick Kyrgios. Heather Watson was playing Daria Gavrilova in a bid to keep Britain alive.
In New Zealand, third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki resisted the fate of other seeded players at the tournament with a 6-0, 6-2 win against Christina McHale and No. 5 Sloane Stephens beat Carina Witthoeft 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Austrian qualifier Tamira Paszek beat two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and British qualifier Naomi Broady reached the quarterfinals with a 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 win over Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia. John Pye, Brisbane, AP
Serena Williams withdraws from Hopman Cup with knee problem
Serena Williams withdrew from the Hopman Cup yesterday because of inflammation in her left knee, a setback in her preparations for the Australian Open.
Williams has been replaced by Vicky Duval in the U.S. team for the last Group A match against the Czech Republic today. Williams withdrew ahead of her season-opening match against Ukraine on Monday, with Duval filling in for her, and retired in the second set against Australia’s Jarmila Wolfe on Tuesday.
Hopman Cup organizers confirmed Williams’ withdrawal. The U.S. team is 0-2 and cannot reach the final of the international mixed team competition at Perth Arena.
Williams, who won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon and got within two victories of a season Grand Slam in 2015 before losing in the U.S. Open semifinals, had initially been confident of returning to action in Perth.
“It’s not even a bump – just a really minor thing in the road and I’ll fly over it,” Williams said after retiring against Wolfe. “I just have some inflammation that’s been going away very slowly — it’s going away but it needs a little more time.
“Mainly I was afraid to move and I need to get in the space where I’m not afraid to move. Maybe a day off or two will really make the world of difference.”
Williams is expected to travel to Melbourne to continue preparations for the Australian Open, which begins on Jan. 18. AP
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