One Ticket to Paradise

NEW YORK—Her reaction to the match point that finally clinched the win for her was telling. When Maria Sharapova yanked that final forehand over the baseline, Victoria Azarenka simply stopped, dropped her racquet as if were a leaflet advertising a new Chinese restaurant, and just stood there, arms dangling at her sides before she framed her temples with her palms and slowly turned to the guests in her box.

I doubt that she was really stunned at conclusion of her 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory—I suspect she wanted to make a statement with an anti-celebration celebration, point being that when you win and go nuts and start jumping all around, it’s more like you won the lottery than a tennis match. And when you’re top-seeded and ranked No. 1, the way Azarenka was coming into this tournament, you’re supposed to beat the other woman—even if she’s the no. 3 seed and has a career Grand Slam, as does Sharapova.

And this: “Vika” had never been known for keeping her cool, or even really knowing what she was doing out there in the classic champion’s manner, which is based on keeping a cool head while everyone else is losing theirs. In the early stages of her career she lapsed into a funk far too frequently. And even when she began to get a handle on her negativity, there was another problem. Azarenka had just two gears, and went from fourth into overdrive at the worst moments: The later stages of a match, where the curves and chicanes are extra tricky. Until this banner year, Azarenka had hit her way into contention countless times, only to hit her way right out it in displays of unmodulated aggression. Not anymore.

Going into their U.S. Open semifinal clash today, neither Azarenka nor Sharapova had lost a three-set match in 2012 (Azarenka was 11-0, Sharapova 12-0), which narrowed down the list of things that might happen should this one go the distance.

Sharapova probably would not double fault her way out of contention.

Azarenka probably would not get agitated, go purple in the face, and slap out atomic errors and poorly chosen shots as if her game were a 45-rpm record that she insisted on playing at 78 rpm (“records,” kids, are what existed before iPods, CDs, and tapes).

Beyond that, you could only guess how this one would go. For Sharapova is one of the most improved ball strikers on either tour, as evidenced by her performance on the game’s slowest surface at Roland Garros. When her serve is an asset instead of a liability—or even if it just stays out of the conversation—she can be a terror. Yet Sharapova had the tougher road to the semis, losing more games (31) than any of her three peers (including grinder Sara Errani) and spent the most time on court, seven hours and 45 minutes.

By contrast, Azarenka had the best winning percentage on hard courts this year, 31-2 (for 93 percent, before today’s match). She’d lost a paltry total of 10 games in the tournament, simply crushing opponents until Sam Stosur pushed her to the limit in the quarterfinals and ruined the stats. True to her new, improved degree of self-control and awareness, Azarenka didn’t run off the rails today despite the kind of slow start that an aggressive player like Sharapova, who loves to intimidate rivals, thrives on.

Sharapova jumped to a 5-1 lead, but Azarenka began to turn the match around in the next game—with a little help from her opponent, who presented her a gift when she hit two double faults to drop the next game. After a quick, confidence-building hold, Azarenka again pushed Sharapova to the brink, but she wasted two break points with errors in a long game—one of the many in this match that proved a lengthy struggle for the loser—before the Russian held for the set.

“I felt like towards the end of the first I was kind of getting a little bit better,” Azarenka would say. “You know, trying to find the momentum and getting more and more comfortable in the match. So even though I lost the first set I felt like it was close. I had a few opportunities; I missed them. But once it finished, I kind of thought that I had to turn it around and start from zero like it's a new match.”

The battle was finally joined for good after the women exchanged breaks to start the second set. Azarenka stopped the bleeding, winning her service game at 1-all with a strong, quick hold. Then she struck quickly, hitting a backhand winner that brought her to game point, after which Sharapova double faulted away the game. Azarenka held firm from that point, and won the set with another break in the final game.

The third set was an anomaly, but a welcome one. Both women held serve until the very end, despite Sharapova’s serving adventures and Azarenka’s periodic loss of rhythm. But the longer the set went on, the more Sharapova struggled to hold; it was less a comment on her serving efficiency than on Azarenka’s return and rally game. Each of the five games Sharapova served went to deuce, and two of them ran about 10 minutes long before she found a way to hold—usually with a heroic combination of big serve and powerful placement. But the ease with which Azarenka held her own service games was an omen; only one of her holds even went to deuce.

“She picked up her game,” Sharapova said afterward. “You know, in the third I think a lot of it had to do with the returns. I didn't do much on her service games . . . just making too many errors not putting any pressure on her. That’s the most frustrating part. I was doing a much better job of that in the first and the second, and I think that put a lot of pressure on her service games but not in the third.”

Azarenka fundamentally agreed with the analysis, but had one other advantage in this match. While Sharapova has been struggling and has seemed very tense at times during these two weeks (how could she not, what with all those do-or-die situations into which she found herself?), Azarenka has been enjoying herself, establishing herself as something of a hip-hop happy girl.

That unreliable serve has been a constant, gloom-inducing companion for Sharapova this fortnight, and she was saved more than once by rain. By contrast, Azarenka has been freewheeling in the sunshine and practicing her dance moves. She was also shadowed daily, not by stress but by singer Redfoo—if that means anything to you—whose garb would put the Biblical Joseph’s to shame in the colors department.

“Well, sometimes it's not as fun, you know,” Azarenka said tonight. “Especially in that first set today it wasn't that fun. But I try to enjoy my moment. I feel like I don't want it to end. I'm living this great run, you know, this great opportunities that are coming at me, that I just want to continue and enjoy that ride. When I'm on the court, I feel like I'm in paradise, you know. I'm in that most comfortable place I can be. Why not enjoy it?”

Indeed, why not—especially with Serena Williams waiting in the wings tomorrow night. But however that turns out, Azarenka has been able to effectively suppress the negativity and lack of control that once characterized her game. It isn’t exactly drop-your-racquet news, although you might have thought so today.

For all of Peter Bodo's reports from the 2012 U.S. Open, click here.