2014 Victoria Azarenka tennis season

2014 Victoria Azarenka tennis season

Victoria Azarenka at the 2014 Toray Pan Pacific Open.
Name	Victoria Azarenka
Country	Belarus
Calendar prize money	$857,583
Singles
Season record	15–9 (62.5%)
Current ranking	No. 31
Ranking change from previous year	29
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	QF
French Open	A
Wimbledon	2R
US Open	QF
Injuries
Injuries	Foot injury (Doha)
Last updated on: 8 September 2014.

The 2014 Victoria Azarenka tennis season officially began at the 2014 Brisbane International, the first of two simultaneous events which opened the 2014 season, and ended with a second round loss to Ana Ivanovic at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in September.^[1]

Yearly summary

Australian Open series

Azarenka began her 2014 season as the second seed at the 2014 Brisbane International, in what was her third participation at the event.^[2] She reached the final for the first time since 2009, but lost to world No. 1 Serena Williams in straight sets.^[3]

Her next tournament was the Australian Open, where she was the two-time defending champion. She failed to defend her title, losing in the quarter-finals to Agnieszka Radwańska in three sets.^[4]

Middle East series

Azarenka was due to play in the Qatar Total Open, where she was the two-time defending champion, but she withdrew before the tournament started due to a left foot injury.^[5]

American hard court season

Azarenka returned from her foot injury at the Indian Wells Masters, but she lost her first match to Lauren Davis, marking her earliest ever exit from Indian Wells.^[6] A recurrence of her foot injury at Indian Wells later forced her withdrawal from Miami for the second consecutive year.

Azarenka withdrew from the Monterrey Open for the second consecutive year.

Clay court season

Azarenka was scheduled to play at both the Madrid Open and the Italian Open, however she withdrew from both tournaments after failing to recover from a left foot injury.^[7] Her absences from both events resulted in her dropping out of the top four for the first time since May 2011.^[8] She ultimately withdrew from the French Open after failing to recover in time for the event.^[9]

Grass court season

After three months out due to a foot injury, Azarenka returned to the Tour at the Eastbourne International as a wildcard entry.^[10] She drew world No. 44 Camila Giorgi in the first round, and was defeated in three sets.^[11]

Azarenka then played at Wimbledon, where she lost in the second round for the second year running; after defeating Mirjana Lučić-Baroni in the first round for her first win since January, she lost to Bojana Jovanovski in the second in three sets.^[12]

US Open series

Azarenka started her US Open series campaign as a wildcard entry at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford. After receiving a second round bye, she was defeated in the second round by Venus Williams in straight sets; as a result of that loss, she dropped out of the top ten for the first time since September 2010. Interestingly, she had marked her 200th consecutive week in the top ten in the week of Stanford.^[13][14]

Azarenka's spell outside the top ten lasted just one week; by reaching the quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup, where she lost to Agnieszka Radwańska for the second time this season,^[15] she re-entered the top ten in the week starting 11 August 2014 at the expense of Ana Ivanovic.^[16][17]

She later withdrew from the Cincinnati Masters due to a right knee injury she suffered at the Rogers Cup. This defeat has, again, seen her drop out of the top ten as she was the defending champion.^[18]

At the US Open, Azarenka reached the quarter-finals for the third consecutive year, but was upset by Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets. The loss saw Azarenka drop out of the top 20 for the first time in over six years.^[19]

Asian hard court season

After the US Open, Azarenka commenced her Asian swing at the downgraded Premier tournament in Tokyo, where she was unseeded. She defeated Kimiko Date-Krumm in the first round in three sets, before losing to fellow former world number one and eventual champion Ana Ivanovic in the second in straight sets.^[1] She was then scheduled to play at the inaugural 2014 Wuhan Open and the China Open, however she announced that she will miss the remainder of the season due to knee and foot injuries.

All matches

Singles matches

Tournament	Match	Round	Opponent	Rank	Result	Score
Brisbane International Brisbane, Australia WTA Premier Hard, outdoor 29 December 2013 – 5 January 2014	-	1R	Bye
	533	2R	Casey Dellacqua	#142	Win	6–3, 6–1
	534	QF	Stefanie Vögele	#50	Win	6–4, 6–7^(7–9), 6–1
	535	SF	Jelena Janković	#8	Win	1–6, 6–3, 6–4
	536	F	Serena Williams	#1	Loss (1)	4–6, 5–7
Australian Open Melbourne, Australia Grand Slam Hard, outdoor 13–26 January 2014
	537	1R	Johanna Larsson	#91	Win	7–6^(7–2), 6–2
	538	2R	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	#84	Win	6–1, 6–4
	539	3R	Yvonne Meusburger	#49	Win	6–1, 6–0
	540	4R	Sloane Stephens	#13	Win	6–3, 6–2
	541	QF	Agnieszka Radwańska	#5	Loss	1–6, 7–5, 0–6
Qatar Total Open Doha, Qatar WTA Premier 5 Hard, outdoor 10–16 February 2014	Withdrew
BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells, United States of America WTA Premier Mandatory Hard, outdoor 3–16 March 2014
	-	1R	Bye
	542	2R	Lauren Davis	#66	Loss	0–6, 6–7^(2–7)
Sony Open Tennis Miami, United States of America WTA Premier Mandatory Hard, outdoor 19–30 March 2014	Withdrew
Mutua Madrid Open Madrid, Spain WTA Premier Mandatory Clay, outdoor 5–11 May 2014	Withdrew
Internazionali BNL d'Italia Rome, Italy WTA Premier 5 Clay, outdoor 12–18 May 2014	Withdrew
French Open Paris, France Grand Slam Clay, outdoor 25 May–8 June 2014	Withdrew
Aegon International Eastbourne, United Kingdom WTA Premier Grass, outdoor 16–21 June 2014	543	1R	Camila Giorgi	#44	Loss	6–4, 3–6, 5–7
Wimbledon Championships London, United Kingdom Grand Slam Grass, outdoor 23 June–6 July 2014	544	1R	Mirjana Lučić-Baroni	#108	Win	6–3, 7–5
	545	2R	Bojana Jovanovski	#46	Loss	3–6, 6–3, 5–7
Bank of the West Classic Stanford, United States of America WTA Premier Hard, outdoor 28 July – 3 August 2014	-	1R	Bye
	546	2R	Venus Williams	#25	Loss	4–6, 6–7^(1–7)
Rogers Cup Montreal, Canada WTA Premier 5 Hard, outdoor 4–10 August 2014	-	1R	Bye
	547	2R	Alizé Cornet	#22	Win	6–4, 2–6, 6–4
	548	3R	Heather Watson	#57	Win	6–2, 6–4
	549	QF	Agnieszka Radwańska	#5	Loss	2–6, 2–6
Western & Southern Open Cincinnati, United States of America WTA Premier 5 Hard, outdoor 11–17 August 2014	Withdrew
US Open New York, United States of America Grand Slam Hard, outdoor 15 August–8 September 2014	550	1R	Misaki Doi	#91	Win	6–7^(3–7), 6–4, 6–1
	551	2R	Christina McHale	#44	Win	6–3, 6–2
	552	3R	Elena Vesnina	#56	Win	6–1, 6–1
	553	4R	Aleksandra Krunić	#145	Win	4–6, 6–4, 6–4
	554	QF	Ekaterina Makarova	#18	Loss	4–6, 2–6
Toray Pan Pacific Open Tokyo, Japan WTA Premier Hard, outdoor 15 – 21 September 2014	555	1R	Kimiko Date-Krumm	#86	Win	3–6, 6–0, 6–2
	556	2R	Ana Ivanovic	#10	Loss	4–6, 3–6

Tournament schedule

Singles schedule

Victoria Azarenka's 2014 singles tournament schedule is as follows:

Date	Championship	Location	Category	Surface	2013 result	2013 points	2014 points	Outcome
29 December 2013– 5 January 2014	Brisbane International	Brisbane	WTA Premier	Hard	SF	200	305	Final Lost to Serena Williams 4–6, 5–7
14 January 2014– 27 January 2014	Australian Open	Melbourne	Grand Slam	Hard	W	2000	430	Quarter-finals Lost to Agnieszka Radwańska 1–6, 7–5, 0–6
10 February 2014– 16 February 2014	Qatar Open	Doha	WTA Premier 5	Hard	W	900	0	Withdrew due to left foot injury
3 March 2014– 16 March 2014	Indian Wells Masters	Indian Wells	WTA Premier Mandatory	Hard	QF	250	10	Second round Lost to Lauren Davis 0–6, 6–7^(2–7)
17 March 2013– 30 March 2014	Miami Masters	Miami	WTA Premier Mandatory	Hard	DNP	0	0	Withdrew due to left foot injury
5 May 2014– 11 May 2014	Madrid Open	Madrid	WTA Premier Mandatory	Clay	2R	60	0	Withdrew due to left foot injury
12 May 2014– 18 May 2014	Italian Open	Rome	WTA Premier 5	Clay	F	700	0	Withdrew due to left foot injury
25 May 2014– 8 June 2014	French Open	Paris	Grand Slam	Clay	SF	900	0	Withdrew due to left foot injury
16 June 2014– 21 June 2014	Eastbourne International	Eastbourne	WTA Premier	Grass	DNP	0	1	First round Lost to Camila Giorgi 6–4, 3–6, 5–7
23 June 2014– 6 July 2014	Wimbledon	London	Grand Slam	Grass	2R	100	70	Second round Lost to Bojana Jovanovski 3–6, 6–3, 5–7
28 July 2014– 3 August 2014	Stanford Classic	Stanford	WTA Premier	Hard	DNP	0	1	Second round Lost to Venus Williams 4–6, 6–7^(1–7)
4 August 2014– 10 August 2014	Canadian Open	Toronto	WTA Premier 5	Hard	DNP	0	190	Quarter-finals Lost to Agnieszka Radwańska 2–6, 2–6
11 August 2014– 17 August 2014	Cincinnati Masters	Cincinnati	WTA Premier 5	Hard	W	900	0	Withdrew due to right knee injury
25 August 2014– 8 September 2014	US Open	New York	Grand Slam	Hard	F	1400	430	Quarter-finals Lost to Ekaterina Makarova 4–6, 2–6
15 September 2014– 21 September 2014	Pan Pacific Open	Tokyo	WTA Premier	Hard	2R	60	TBD	Second round Lost to Ana Ivanovic 3–6, 4–6
21 September 2014– 27 September 2014	Wuhan Open	Wuhan	WTA Premier 5	Hard	2R	0	0	Withdrew due to knee and foot injury
27 September 2014– 5 October 2014	China Open	Beijing	WTA Premier Mandatory	Hard	1R	5	0	Withdrew due to knee and foot injury
Total year-end points						8046	1813	6233 difference

Yearly Records

Head-to-head match-ups

Bold indicates that the player was in the Top 10, italics denotes that the player was in the Top 20 (at the time of the match being played). This list is ordered by number of wins to number of losses in chronological order played.

• Casey Dellacqua 1–0
• Stefanie Vögele 1–0
• Jelena Janković 1–0
• Johanna Larsson 1–0
• Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová 1–0
• Yvonne Meusburger 1–0
• Sloane Stephens 1–0
• Mirjana Lučić-Baroni 1–0
• Alizé Cornet 1–0
• Heather Watson 1–0
• Misaki Doi 1–0
• Christina McHale 1–0
• Elena Vesnina 1–0
• Aleksandra Krunić 1–0
• Kimiko Date-Krumm 1–0
• Lauren Davis 0–1
• Camila Giorgi 0–1
• Ana Ivanovic 0–1
• Bojana Jovanovski 0–1
• Ekaterina Makarova 0–1
• Venus Williams 0–1
• Serena Williams 0–1
• Agnieszka Radwańska 0–2

Finals

Singles: 1 (0–1)

Category Grand Slam (0–0) WTA Tour Championships (0–0) WTA Premier Mandatory (0–0) WTA Premier 5 (0–0) WTA Premier (0–1)

Titles by surface Hard (0–1) Clay (0–0) Grass (0–0)

Titles by conditions Outdoors (0–1) Indoors (0–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1.	January 4, 2014	Brisbane International, Australia	Hard	Serena Williams	4–6, 5–7

Earnings

#	Event	Prize money	Year-to-date
1	Brisbane International	$104,890	$104,890
2	Australian Open	$239,365	$344,255
3	BNP Paribas Open	$16,000	$360,255
4	Aegon International	$4,740	$364,995
5	Wimbledon	$67,015	$432,010
6	Bank of the West Classic	$10,000	$442,010
7	Rogers Cup	$51,130	$493,140
8	US Open	$364,443	$857,583
			$857,583

Figures in United States dollars (USD) unless noted.

See also

• 2014 Li Na tennis season
• 2014 Maria Sharapova tennis season
• 2014 Serena Williams tennis season
• 2014 WTA Tour

References

1. Ana Ivanovic stalls Victoria Azarenka's comeback in Pan Pacific Open, ABC Grandstand Sport (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 18 September 2014
2. Victoria Azarenka to play Brisbane International in Australian Open build-up, ABC Grandstand Sport (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 24 October 2013
3. Serena Williams beats Victoria Azarenka to win Brisbane International, ABC Grandstand Sport (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 4 January 2014
4. Australian Open: Victoria Azarenka loses to Agnieszka Radwanska in quarter-finals, ABC Grandstand Sport (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 22 January 2014
5. http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2014/02/azarenka-pulls-out-doha-and-dubai/50525/
6. Victoria Azarenka crashes out in Indian Wells, The Tennis Circuit, 8 March 2014
7. Victoria Azarenka says she'll sit out Madrid, Rome, NBC Sports, 26 April 2014
8. Halep to rise to World No. 4, WTA official website, 14 May 2014
9. Victoria Azarenka to miss French Open, Yahoo! Sports, 19 May 2014
10. Azarenka to return in Eastbourne, WTA official website, 11 June 2014
11. Victoria Azarenka loses first match back from injury at Eastbourne International, ABC Grandstand Sport, 18 June 2014
12. Wimbledon 2014: Victoria Azarenka suffers early elimination to Bojana Jovanovski, ABC Grandstand Sport, 26 June 2014
13. Venus Beats Birthday Girl Azarenka, WTA Official Website, 31 July 2014
14. 200 недель в топ-10
15. Radwanska rounds out final four, WTA official website, 8 August 2014
16. Azarenka, Radwanska set for QF duel, WTA official website, 7 August 2014
17. Heather Watson goes down in straight sets to Victoria Azarenka in Montreal, The Guardian, 8 August 2014
18. Safarova tops Venus in Cincinnati; Azarenka pulls out, tennis.com, 12 August 2014
19. US Open: Ekaterina Makarova beats Victoria Azarenka to reach semi-finals, ABC Grandstand Sport (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 4 September 2014