Azarenka beats Williams to win Doha Open

          Victoria Azarenka of Belarus won the Qatar Open to retain her title in Doha on 17 February. In the final the Belarusian beat American Serena Williams 7-6 (8-6), 2-6, 6-3 in two hours 28 minutes. It was only the second time that Victoria Azarenka beat Serena Williams in 12 attempts. The Belarusian held her previous victory over the American in Miami in 2009 (6-3, 6-1).
        On her way to the Doha title Victoria Azarenka defeated Switzerland’s Romina Oprandi (World No.62) 6-2, 6-3, American Christina McHale (World No.44) 6-0, 6-0, Italian Sara Errani (World No.7) 6-2, 6-2, and Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska (World No.4) 6-3, 6-3. Last year Victoria Azarenka won the Doha Open after seeing off World No.9 Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-1, 6-2 in the final.
This year the Belarusian took the Australia Open title in Melbourne defeating China’s Li Na 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Victoria Azarenka has so far recorded 16 wins in the WTA tournaments since 2005. Despite her victory in Doha, Victoria Azarenka lost her WTA top seed rating to Serena Williams who officially replaces her as world number one on 18 February. Victoria Azarenka topped the WTA ratings on 30 January 2012 and held the title for 52 weeks.