Victoria Azarenka has ended Madison Keys’ unbeaten begin to the 12 months, upsetting the American tenth seed to succeed in the Australian Open fourth spherical.
Keys wilted amid a flurry of unforced errors as two-time champion Azarenka fought again from a set down to finish a 1-6 6-2 6-1 victory.
In doing so, the 33-year-old arrange a gathering with both sixth seed Maria Sakkari or world No.87 Lin Zhu within the final 16.
“(Keys) came out firing from all corners and I felt like I was just rushing a little bit too much,” twenty fourth seed Azarenka mentioned.
“I couldn’t really get into the rhythm and I was just trying to fight for every point, trying to turn the match around. It worked really well.”
Keys, a former US Open runner-up, was a semi-final loser to Ash Barty at Melbourne Park final 12 months and was among the many favourites to assert a breakthrough grand slam title.
The 27-year-old was unbeaten on the United Cup and seemed to be cruising towards Azarenka when she breezed by the primary set.
But Keys made 14 unforced errors within the second set and 17 within the third, ending with 39 for the match – greater than double Azarenka’s complete of 18.
“My serve just wasn’t working in the beginning and I feel like she’s going to step in and crush the ball,” Azarenka mentioned.
“I just tried to do a little bit more, change a little bit my positioning on the court, add a little bit of pace on my shots and really try to take a little bit more momentum into my hands.
“She was going for the whole lot and it was exhausting for me to search out the rhythm however I felt like I began to serve higher, began to serve smarter, and use my second shot a bit higher.”
Azarenka’s win was her 45th at Melbourne Park and gave her a perfect 4-0 career record against Keys.
“She’s a fantastic participant, she’s a fantastic good friend and I’m positive we will play extra matches,” Azarenka mentioned.
“We’re all the time enjoying powerful matches. It’s by no means simple.”
