Azarenka beats Serena to retain Qatar title

Victoria Azarenka avenged the loss of her world number one ranking to Serena Williams by beating the American for only the second time in 13 attempts to successfully defend her Qatar Total Open title yesterday.

The Belarusian’s 7-6 (8/6), 2-6, 6-3 win over the legendary American also completed back-to-back title defences, as last month she also defended the Australian Open title in Melbourne.

“I just wanted to fight and give it my best,” said Azarenka.

“I started at love-30 down and it was ‘you have to keep it together and pull it around’. Serena was on a roll. I knew she would bring her A game, and I was really glad I could stay tough and focused.”

HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser presented trophies to Azarenka and Williams