Belarussian Victoria Azarenka produced some sparkling tennis to defeat an out-of-sorts world number two Kim Clijsters in the quarter-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open on Wednesday. Azarenka, whose career breakthrough came with her win here at Key Biscayne in 2009, ran out 6-3 6-3 winner against the 2010 champion Clijsters.
The eighth-ranked Azarenka took full advantage of a below-par display from Clijsters who made 44 unforced errors, a day after she was pushed to a third set tie-break by Ana Ivanovic. "I just didn't feel good out there. Just mentally and physically, I didn't feel right," the Belgian told reporters. "It has been a tough few last days but not in a way that I should not be ready for that. I train hard enough to physically be capable of doing that.
"Mentally I just kind of feel like I didn't have any fighting spirit. "It's obviously tough against someone like her. Against some lower ranked players maybe it's possible to get through matches, but against somebody like her it isn't," she said. Azarenka will face Russian world number three Vera Zvonareva in the semi-finals on Thursday after she beat Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5 6-3. Russian Maria Sharapova will face emerging German talent Andrea Petkovic in Thursday's other semi-final.
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