Serena downs world No.1 Azarenka anew

ISTANBUL: American Serena Williams reached the semifinals at the WTA Tour Championships in Istanbul on Thursday night with what is fast becoming a routine defeat of world No.1 Victoria Azarenka.
The Wimbledon and USOpen champion recorded a 6-4, 6-4 win at the season-ending event, her fifth triumph over the Belarusian this year. Williams also owns an 11-1 record in their career head-to-heads.
The win was Williams’ third at the tournament and while she is guaranteed to top the round robin red group, Azarenka must now beat China’s Li Na on Friday to reach the last four.
The eighth-ranked Li ended German Angelique Kerber’s participation in the event with a 6-4, 6-3 triumph.
Italy’s Sara Errani is also still in semifinal contention after a three-set win over Australian Samantha Stosur.
Errani faces a must-win match against Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska if she is to join world No.2 Maria Sharapova in advancing from the white group.
Williams has won 12 of the 13 sets she has played with Azarenka in 2012. Her earlier wins over the 23-year-old came at Madrid, Wimbledon, the Olympics and the US Open.
Azarenka’s power troubles nearly every other player on the WTA Tour but Williams has a substantially bigger serve than most and an equally good return.
Williams was again let down by her serving, but she still managed 35 winners to just 15 for Azarenka, broke her five times and won the match when Azarenka doubled faulted for the ninth time.
“I had too many opportunities that I didn’t use,” Azarenka said.
“She played really well. I didn’t execute well enough. For me, the key word today was discipline, which was missing.” The 31-year-old Williams was at a lost to explain her dominance over Azarenka.
“Maybe I’m doing the right things at the right time.” Williams said. “I don’t know what the edge is.” Azarenka admitted she struggled mentally against Williams but fancied one more match against her before the year was done.
“She’s playing great tennis,” Azarenka said.
“She’s letting her tennis speak for itself. My biggest opponent is her right now. I’ll do everything I can. I might still have a chance to play against her in this tournament [in the final], so we’ll see.”
Sharapova’s hopes alive
Maria Sharapova advanced her hopes of a triumphant end to a self-defining year by delivering a table-topping third win at the WTA Championships yesterday.
French Open champion Sharapova completed an improbable career Grand Slam during 2012, and now an emphatic victory over former US Open champion Samantha Stosur guaranteed that she gets the less difficult of the two semifinals today.
That’s because the Russian’s 6-0, 6-3 win over the Australian enabled her to avoid Serena Williams, the unofficial favorite for the season-ending title.
Williams completed her third win on Thursday to finish top of the other group.
“Especially after my injury I’ve got a lot better at accepting losses as well as wins,” Sharapova said, referring to the badly damaged shoulder which has required a four-year rebuilding of her career.
Few thought then that she could win another Grand Slam title, as she did in Paris in June.
Few thought either that she would recover from a set and 2-4 down as she did during a three-hour struggle on Wednesday against Agniezka Radwanska, the Wimbledon finalist from Poland.
So though Sharapova may be more inured to defeats, she remains one of the toughest resisters of them, and on Friday showed herself better than she has ever been at making opportunities count.
Sharapova imposed that on the unfortunate Stosur, a slightly off-the-pace late substitute for the unwell titleholder Petra Kvitova, who was overwhelmed in a first set lasting only 20 minutes.
Ferrer in semis
In Valencies, David Ferrer beat his Spanish Davis Cup teammate Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 7-5 yesterday to reach the semifinals of the Valencia Open.
The fifth-ranked Ferrer was little troubled on the hard indoor surface as he improved to 12-0 against an opponent who will become his teammate next month in the Czech Republic when Spain looks to defend its Davis Cup title.
Ferrer has won the Valencia title twice and has never lost to Almagro, a record that includes four encounters this season.
Almagro had a triple-break chance in the sixth game of the second set but failed to turn it around as Ferrer held before breaking in the 11th game. Ferrer saved his fourth break point in the final game before clinching the win when Almagro hit long.
Earlier, Jurgen Melzer and Alexandr Dolgopolov each won to set up their own semifinal match.
Melzer, who hasn’t dropped a set at the tournament, beat David Goffin of Belgium 7-6 (7), 6-4. The Austrian overcame a poor first serve, including seven double-faults.
Dolgopolov defeated defending champion Marcel Granollers 6-0, 6-2. The Ukrainian was perfect on his first serve in the first set.
“It was for sure easier than expected. He was frustrated and he wasn’t playing his best tennis,” said the 21st-ranked Dolgopolov, who broke the Spaniard five times.
“I had no chance of coming back,” said Granollers, who had reached the last two finals in Valencia.
Granollers is expected to lead Spain’s doubles team in Prague.