Victoria Azarenka reached her first Australian Open semi-final since winning the title in 2013 when she knocked out third seed Jessica Pegula 6-4, 6-1 on Tuesday. The Belarusian 24th seed outlasted her American opponent in a marathon 64-minute first set before running away with the second to set up a last-four encounter against Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina at Melbourne Park. “Well, it hurts to beat her because I always want her to do well,” said Azarenka, 33, who also won the Australian Open in 2012 and is a close friend of Pegula’s. “But at the same time I have to play my best tennis. She has been playing amazing, very consistent. I knew from the first point I had to bring it.” Pegula was in her third Australian Open quarter-final and had never reached the semi-finals of a Slam in four previous attempts, failing to win a set in any of them. It was a sorry statistic that was to be extended under the roof at Rod Laver Arena. The 28-year-old is the epitome of a late bloomer, with 18 of her 30 Grand Slam match wins coming since the start of last year. Sponsored by Vuukle She had dropped… Read full this story
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