Victoria Azarenka of Belarus hits a forehand to Ana Ivanovic of Serbia during their semifinal match at the Southern California Open on Saturday in Carlsbad, California. Photo: IC

 

Top seed Victoria Azarenka overcame a lapse of concentration to defeat Ana Ivanovic 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 and reach the final of the Southern California Open on Saturday.

Playing in her first tournament since suffering knee and hip injuries at Wimbledon, the Belarussian dug ­herself out of a second-set hole to subdue the 2008 French Open champion, who also ran hot and cold throughout.

Australia's Samantha ­Stosur will face Azarenka in the ­final after the fifth seed utilized her big serve and forehand to ­repel French wild card Virginie ­Razzano 7-6, 6-3 in the second semifinal.

"It's something that you expect from Ana, she's a very big shot maker and loves to bang the ball," Azarenka told reporters of her hard-hitting Serb opponent.

"For me the key was to not let her make those shots and be the one who was putting the pressure. I did feel more consistent."

World No.3 Azarenka raced through the first set, breaking the seventh-seeded Ivanovic three times, but was less than thrilled with her play in the ­second, where she was broken to love and conceded it with three sizzling forehand winners.

Azarenka composed herself in the third, breaking Ivanovic with a ripping forehand cross-court winner and never giving the Serb a look at her serve.

Following her win, the ­double Australian Open champion is guaranteed to pass Russian ­Maria Sharapova for the No.2 ranking when they are released on Monday. Serena Williams will remain No.1.

Azarenka has won 28 straight matches on outdoor hard courts since her 2012 US Open final defeat, despite withdrawing from three tournaments during the period with injuries.

In the late match, Stosur was able to overcome a 4-0 deficit in the first set by overpowering her ambitious opponent to reach a first WTA final in nine months.

After recovering from her slow start, Stosur dictated most of the action and played a far more authoritative tiebreaker, winning it 7-2 with a big serve that Razzano could barely touch.

The Australian broke Raz­zano early in the second set and went on to seal victory when the Frenchwoman, who had needed three and a half hours to upset third seed Petra Kvitova in the quarterfinals, hit a backhand long.

"I don't feel like I was ­playing too bad at the start to be 4-0 down but she was hitting a lot of winners and making me move a lot," said Stosur, who ripped 20 winners. "So I thought I have to do something to change this and be more aggressive off the front foot a lot earlier in the rallies, dictate earlier, and that made the difference."

Reuters - Global Times