Williams meets Pavlyuchenkova in Brisbane International final

Serena Williams will play Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the Brisbane International final

Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams after a match in 2012

Serena Williams has made it to the final without having to play what was guaranteed to be a difficult semi-final against Victoria Azarenka. The world number one had to pull out of the tournament after having a ‘bad pedicure’ leaving her big toe with an infection making it impossible to play tennis. The Belarusian said that she would rather forfeit the Brisbane International and play in the Australian Open than not even attempt to defend her title in the opening Grand Slam of the year.

Azarenka, who won the Sydney International before claiming her first Grand Slam win at the Australian Open last year during a 26-match winning streak, has lost all but one of her previous 12 matches against Williams. Even if the match did go ahead, Azarenka has always struggled against the American who aims to get a clean sweep in the Grand Slams winning every one in 2013, and so had a good chance of losing to her. The top seed announced her withdrawal 30 minutes before the scheduled start of the match, stating that the infection had got so bad that she had needed to visit a doctor to have part of the nail removed.

In the other semi-final Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Lesia Tsurenko 4-6 6-1 6-2. Pavlyuchenkova got off to a poor start losing the first set in 48 minutes but after she knuckled down and found her form, she dominated the next two sets finishing off the match in just under 2 hours. Pavlyuchenkova said this after the semi-final, “I'm really pleased with how I came back and with what I've done this week. I'm really happy to be in the final of my first tournament of the year here in Brisbane.”

Author Daniel Foster.
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