By N.D. Prashant/Doha Victoria Azarenka may be the World No 1, but on the court she is akin to a meticulous kid.
She walks with poise, yet gets easily excited and severely cross with herself at the smallest of errors. All of this, of course, contributes to her success in the end.The Belarusian ace won her 15th successive match of the season as she defeated Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 6-0, 6-4 to storm into the semi-finals of the WTA Qatar Open here at the Khalifa Tennis Complex yesterday.This was the first meeting between the two, and though Wichmayer lost out to the highest ranked player, she would be utterly disappointed having crashed out of the third quarter-finals of the season.Australian Open winner Azarenka was in sublime form and the Belgian remained completely in her awe all through the first set. With Wickmayer failing to hold her serve even once and an authoritative Azarenka had the first set in her bag in less than 18 minutes.The second set went on serves until the fourth game before Wickmayer saw her serve being broken in the fifth. A subdued Wickmayer then suddenly began showing sparks of brilliance the kind of which saw her overpower World No 11 Schiavone on her way to the last eight, by breaking back in the sixth.The set was keenly poised once the duo again traded serves in the seventh and eight games to be on level terms at 4-4. However, Wickmayer handed the initiative back to Azarenka by failing to hold her serve in the ninth. At 30-30 a forehand return from Wickmayer crashed into the net and then with a backhand going wide, Azarenka was serving for the match. The top seed, who is now in line for the third title of the season, held her serve gleefully at love to seal the victory. “I’m trying to do my best. I’m feeling the same as I was at the beginning of the season. I’m enjoying everything that I do on court and you can say that I’m still like a kid,” said a jubilant Azarenka, who will be taking on fourth seeded Agniezska Radwanska in the semis today.“I would consider the first as a perfect first set. I was really going for every shot I could, and everything was working. Second set I had opportunities in every single game. You cannot play every single point perfectly, but, you know, she came back. She started to go for her shots, which I was expecting it from her, as well. But I’m glad the way I finished it,” added Azarenka, who lost in the first round to Daniela Hantuchova in Doha last year.The Belarusian revealed that her confidence hit rock bottom once she was beaten by Flavio Pennetta in Dubai later and she even decided to call it a day. “Last year by this time I was a little bit of a mess. I couldn’t control any of my emotions, and I didn’t really enjoy playing tennis.“I lost a really, really bad match here and a few before that. It was just not fun for me to do, because I’m the type of player that plays with a lot of passion, a lot of desire. “Every time I was stepping on the court, it was a misery to me. So I just told my mom, I don’t want to play anymore because it’s not fun. She’s like ‘You know what? I think maybe you’re tired, you’re burned out. Just come home and see what happens’. “And then a few long talks with my grandmother and I kind of bounced back. I realised there are more important things in life than just losing a tennis match,” said Azarenka. Earlier, third seed Samantha Stosur showed her fighting qualities by brushing aside a spirited performance from Monica Niculescu to win 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 for a place in the last four. The defending US Open champion found herself in a precarious situation after she lost the second set cheaply at 2-6 and later saw Niculescu clinch three games on the trot. Buoyed by the sudden turnaround, the Romanian took a 30-0 lead on Stosur’s serve in the seventh game. However, once she squandered an easy forehand volley after a long absorbing rally, the Australian simply clawed her way back into the match.Having escaped the scare, Stosur won back-to-back games with ease to seal her victory. “I got off to a really good start and wasn’t under too much pressure at all. I was serving well and getting myself on top of the points and finishing it off. “Then early in that second set I feel like I missed some of those opportunities. I was still setting the point up, and then I missed one break point and kind of from that point maybe she grew a little bit in confidence, started playing a little bit better.“And then I missed a few more, and then all of a sudden there’s a tight match on your hands. I was able to pick up my game at the end of it. I believed in myself,” said a pleased Stosur, who will play Marion Bartoli in the semis today.