Sport
Serena Williams beats Maria Sharapova in Madrid- advances to semis
“There are a lot of things that I had to change and come up with in order to surprise her because she was pretty unbelievable in the first set,” said Azarenka. “I had to turn something around. I don’t know if it was confidence or if it was self belief or just pushing myself to be better and really wanting to win the match.”
Azarenka also said she agrees with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in their criticism of court’s new surface that was changed from red to blue clay.
“I do agree that it is very slippery. You feel unstable sometimes, actually, a lot of times,” she said. “But right now there is no point on talking about it. After the tournament all the players can get together and discuss it.”
The Belarusian will next face four-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who beat American Varvara Lepchenko 6-4, 6-4.
On the men’s side, Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro hit 10 aces to beat Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4 and reach the semifinal with Tomas Berdych.
The six-seeded Berdych defeated Fernando Verdasco 6-1, 6-2. The Spaniard made 24 unforced errors and showed little of the flare on display Thursday when he ousted Nadal.
Top-ranked Djokovic will face Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia and Roger Federer will play David Ferrer later on Friday.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
