MIAMI, FL, USA - Former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka produced dominant tennis from start to finish to knock out fellow Miami Open champion Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.

“I played my game, and I was doing what was working,” Azarenka told reporters afterwards.
“I was aggressive, I was using my opportunities to step up, and I put pressure.

“I'm pretty happy that I was able to play consistent throughout the whole match.”

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Azarenka came into their matchup with a 12-5 win-loss record over No.30 seed Radwanska, a rivalry that dates back to 2006 Wimbledon, covers all surfaces, and includes 13 hardcourt matches - Azarenka leads 8-4 in hardcourts.

As a result, the Belarusian knew exactly how to break down Radwanska’s defenses, pouncing on the Pole’s very attackable second serve to bring up an early break. Azarenka quickly consolidated for a 3-0 lead, before breaking again to make it 5-1.

Radwanska dug deep from her bag of tricks to get one of the breaks back, extending her stay in the set - but her service woes came back to haunt her as she failed to hold, Azarenka going on to take the opening set.

In the first set, Radwanska managed to hold serve just once, but in the second Azarenka kept her under pressure and she wasn’t able to hold at all. She put up more resistance to break back twice and prevent Azarenka from running away with the match - recovering from 0-2 down and later on from 1-5 down - but she couldn’t make a dent on the former World No.1’s momentum.

Azarenka needed just an hour and 23 minutes to close out the match and make her way back into the quarterfinals.   

After missing the last two editions of the tournament due to maternity leave and personal issues, today’s victory extends three-time champion Azarenka’s win streak to 10 matches in a row in Miami since lifting the trophy in 2016.

Up next, Azarenka gets No.5 seed Karolina Pliskova as she seeks to return to the semifinals for the fourth time. If she gets past the big-serving Czech, it’s a good omen - every time that Azarenka has reached the semifinals in Miami, she’s gone on to win the title.

“[Pliskova] is an amazing player, a Top 10 player,” Azarenka said. “Been pretty consistent with high results. In the end, she's a great ball striker, heavy ball, and very big serve.

“For me, it's a challenge to see how I can approach that and how I can progress from that match. It's perfect. I wouldn't ask for anything else.”