Both Azarenka and Stosur Tested But Advance at BNP Paribas Open
Victoria Azarenka and Samantha Stosur both advanced to the fourth round of play at the 2013 BNP Paribas Open. The seventh-seeded Stosur dueled for two-hours and 12-minutes against Peng Shuai, dropping the second set and rallying from a break down in the third to beat Shuai, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. Up next for Stosur will be the 24-seed, Mona Barthel, who upset the 11th-seeded Ana Ivanovic, 6-1, 3-6, 6-0. Stosur and Barthel will be playing against each other for the first time.
Azarenka, the top seed in Indian Wells and the defending champion, was three games from losing at 6-3, 3-3 down against the 28th-seeded Kirsten Flipkens, but won 12 consecutive points from there to take the second set, then didn’t lose another game the rest of the way to complete a 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 win. Azarenka is now 16-0 on the 2013 season.
"I’m really happy that I find the ability to turn around my matches no matter what the circumstances are on the court," Azarenka said. "That’s definitely what excites me the most – the game and the shots, it’s so not important when you can turn it around with your mentality and with your physical ability, because shots is just shots. Everybody out there can hit shots."
Next up for Azarenka is Urszula Radwanska, who defeated American Jamie Hampton, 6-0, 7-6(4).
"I haven’t played Urszula in a long time—I only played her once," Azarenka said. "She’s a very talented player and I think she’s improved her game a lot, so obviously she’s been showing some very good results in the past. I have to come up with my best game. I’m sure she will, too. We’ll battle."
