As Victoria Azarenka celebrated one of her most significant victories of the last decade, her stratospheric level was a reminder of why she has achieved so much. Azarenka slinked around inside the baseline, taking the ball relentlessly early and applying incessant, suffocating pressure.
Her unrelenting intensity led to a tremendous victory as two-time Australian Open champion Jessica Pegula defeated the third seed 6-4, 6-1 to return to the semifinals for the first time since 2013.
“I knew I had to play fast, I couldn’t give her an opportunity to intervene, I had to mess it up,” she said. “I made some interesting cuts. I thought, ‘You’re doing the right thing. Even if it looks like crap, it’s okay. It’s the right way to do it.’”
Pegula had been one of the fittest players after beating her four opponents to reach her third consecutive quarterfinal at the Australian Open without dropping a set. But in an area crucial to Azarenka’s career, the pressure she applied overwhelmed Pegula.
“She did exactly what she wanted,” Pegula said. “She just did it pretty well. Hit the ball deep, take it early, change direction of the ball.”
A decade on from the days of Azarenka hitting world No. 1 and battling Serena Williams in the biggest final, such sights were rare. After taking maternity leave and giving birth to her son Leo in 2016, she struggled with personal issues, including a custody battle, and hasn’t been able to consistently rediscover her old level.
It seemed like Azarenka hit a turning point when she reached the US Open final in 2020, but the boost she hoped it would bring never materialized. This is the second time she has reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam since 2016 and her second Slam semifinal since 2013.
Azarenka attributes some of her recent troubles to nerves and fears that followed her on the pitch last season. She said she was not mentally ready to play tennis at a high level, too afraid of failure. After the game, the 33-year-old was passionate and open about the journey it took to feel comfortable on the pitch.
“I don’t think you’ll recognize it right away,” she said. “It builds up until you hit a pretty bad point where nothing makes sense anymore. You feel kinda lost. I got to the point where I couldn’t find anything that felt good about me, not even a sentence.
“After my game in Ostrava I broke a couple of racquets [where she lost in the first round in October]. That was a very tough moment for me.”
Since then she has worked on learning how to manage her emotions and thoughts in high pressure and stressful situations. “I kept trying to take one small step forward, one more challenge, one more step forward. I learned how to start building a process that is step by step instead of jumping to conclusions in the situation, jumping to an outcome or goal and really focusing on step by step which is quite difficult. It takes a lot of work, daily work.”
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Azarenka’s title here in 2012 was a pivotal moment in her career as she reached No. 1 and embarked on a 26-game winning streak before successfully defending her title. During that second title run, a medical timeout during their semifinal match against Sloane Stephens was disputed. The backlash left mental scars that took her a decade to move on from.
Jessica Pegula (left) congratulates Victoria Azarenka on finishing her quarterfinals. Photo: Shutterstock“It was one of the worst things I’ve ever been through in my professional career, how I was treated after that moment, how I had to explain myself until 10:30 p.m. because people didn’t want to believe me,” she said. “I’ve thought about it. It took me 10 years to get over it. I’m finally over it.”
Ten years after her last semi-final at the Australian Open, Azarenka meets Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina after the Kazakh followed up her fourth-round win over world No. 1 Iga Swiatek by beating the former French Open champion Yelena Ostapenko dominated. 2, 6-4 to reach her second Grand Slam semifinal.