As Victoria Azarenka prepares to play her fourth round match against Czech Republic’s Barbora Strycova for a place in 2016 Australian Open quarterfinals, she gives an impression of regaining her old glory. After the injury-ridden two years, the Belarusian is looking every bit like she did three years ago. She was the world’s no.1 player for a while before Serena Williams snatched the honor back from her. In her top form, women singles players were wary of facing Vika, when she had won the Australian Open title for the second year in a row. From the summit, Vika crashed to no.50 in the world last year. Her injuries had brought about a downward slide that looked unabated. But the feisty woman fought back against heavy odds and for most part of 2015, she kept improving. From 49 in the world in February 2015, Vika has made an amazing recovery and as per the rankings released last Monday, she has climbed to no.16. Two weeks ago, Vika won her first WTA title after 2½ years, when she lifted the Evonne Goolagong Cawley Trophy at Brisbane with a thumping win against Germany’s world No.10 Angelique Kerber. The Belarusian had earlier won at Brisbane in 2009 and another victory; seven years later, must have boosted her morale coming into Melbourne. After she beat the Japanese qualifier Naomi Osaka 6-1, 6-1 in her third round match on Saturday, the double Australian Open champion is now a force to reckon with. She looks healthy, happy and raring to go at this point of time.
Vika is human and can easily falter tomorrow. However, if she doesn’t lose consistency hereafter, she is the player to watch. Those, who saw her play in Saturday’s third round, would not have failed to notice her resolute stance as she clenched her fists after winning points against Osaka. Vika has been at the summit for two consecutive years in 2012 and 2013 before falling prey to injuries. In fact, 2013 was Vika’s best year in tennis, when she reached the finals of three Grand Slams. After winning at Melbourne, she lost in the semifinal at the French Open but reached the finals at Wimbledon and the US Open. Her much-improved current performance inspires confidence in her fans because she is perfectly capable of working her way to the top and winning the Australian Open for the third time.