Azarenka retains Australian Open title
Victoria Azarenka has won back-to-back Australian Open titles, beating Li Na in a dramatic final.
MELBOURNE: Victoria Azarenka has won back-to-back Australian Open titles, beating Li Na 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a dramatic final that contained a break for fireworks and two medical timeouts.
Li tumbled twice to the court after twisting her left ankle. She had her left ankle taped after falling in the fifth game of the second set.
On the first point after a 10-minute pause in the third set while fireworks crackled overhead from nearby Australia Day celebrations, Li fell over again and slammed the back of her head into the court. The 2011 French Open champion was treated immediately and had another time out before being allowed to resume the match.
Azarenka won five of the next six games to claim her second major title and retain the No. 1 ranking.
After a scrappy match marked by boos for Azarenka, a break for Australia Day fireworks and two painful falls for China s Li, the Belarusian top seed dissolved in tears after sealing the 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win.
Li required two medical timeouts, when she twice twisted her left ankle and also banged her head on the court, in a match also interrupted for nine minutes at a crucial stage by the fireworks.
Azarenka overcame a pro-Li crowd that was clearly unimpressed by her controversial medical timeout in the semi-finals, which she took after blowing five match points.
It was a gutsy effort from the 23-year-old as she came back from a set down and sealed it on her first match point in 2hr 40min to clinch her second Grand Slam title.
Azarenka became only the fourth active player to hold two or more majors, behind Serena Williams with 15, Venus Williams with seven, Maria Sharapova with four and Svetlana Kuznetsova with two.
