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Australian Open defending champion Victoria Azarenka has stormed into the fourth round and her first clash with American Sloane Stephens since a controversial semi-final last year.
Second seed Azarenka booked the meeting with 13th seed Stephens by thrashing Austria’s Yvonne Meusburger 6-1 6-0 in exactly an hour on Saturday night.
The hard-hitting Belarusian won the last 11 games of the match and was extraordinarily dominant in the second set, in which she won 24 of 29 points.
It set up an interesting rematch.
Azarenka’s only previous meeting with Stephens was last year’s 6-1 6-4 semi-final win, when she was afterwards accused of “cheating within the rules” by the American’s then-coach David Nainkin for taking a medical time-out at a crucial stage.
Azarenka had just squandered five match points while attempting to serve out the match at 5-3.
After taking the 10-minute time-out, she returned to clinch victory on Stephens’ serve.
Asked in a courtside interview why she needed the time-out, Azarenka replied: “I almost did the choke of the year right now. At 5-3 having so many chances, couldn’t close it out.”
But Azarenka, who went on to beat China’s Li Na in the final, later defended herself against accusations of gamesmanship, saying she initially misunderstood the question and the time-out was prompted by a genuine rib injury.
Asked on Saturday night if she and Stephens had spoken about that match since, the Belarusian said she preferred to leave it in the past.
“We left it all last year here,” Azarenka said.
“That’s what is important for me, is to play another match. I’m looking forward to that match.”
Stephens, who had knocked out Serena Williams in last year’s quarter-finals, was gracious about the incident at the time.
And the 20-year-old said on Saturday it meant nothing ahead of Monday’s fourth-round rematch.
“Last year has nothing to do with this year. It’s a totally different year, a lot of things have happened,” Stephens said.
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