Dennis Sabangan/European Pressphoto Agency
MELBOURNE, Australia — In a momentum-swinging final interrupted by fireworks and, yes, more medical timeouts, Victoria Azarenka defended her Australian Open singles title by rallying to defeat Li Na 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
The victory, which allowed Azarenka to retain the No. 1 ranking ahead of Serena Williams, was a tribute to Azarenka’s powers of resilience and concentration.
Far from her relentless best, she managed to overcome a crowd that audibly favored Li and an emotional week in which she was widely criticized for taking a medical timeout at a critical phase of her semifinal match over Sloane Stephens of the United States.
When Li missed her final shot, Azarenka dropped her racket, eyes wide, and then went to the net to shake hands with her Chinese opponent. She was soon on her chair sobbing into a towel. She then rose and went to the opposite side of the court to reach up and shake hands with members of her team, including her coach Sam Sumyk and her friend, the musician Redfoo.
“Enjoy this one, you are a champion,” Sumyk said.
The victory was the latest major coup on a hard court for Azarenka, the globe-trotting 23-year-old from Belarus. Her power baseline game is a fine fit for the true-bouncing hardcourt game.
The match, often better drama than tennis, included 16 service breaks, and both players finished with significantly more unforced errors than winners. But on an unsteady night, Azarenka was the steadier force, making 18 winners and 28 unforced errors while Li had 36 winners and 57 unforced errors.
The match changed tone and rhythm for good with Azarenka leading 3-1 and Li serving in the second set. After a swing volley from Azarenka, Li tried to shift direction quickly. But her left ankle gave way and she went down, her racket clattering on the court as she winced and rolled onto her back.
When she rose, she hesitated to put weight on her left foot and limped to her chair for treatment where her ankle was wrapped during a three-minute medical timeout.
Li returned and won five straight points to hold serve and go up 0-40 with Azarenka serving. But, in what proved to be the critical game, Azarenka was able to recover and win five straight points and to take a 4-2 lead. She later closed out the set.
Then in the third set, with Li up 2-1, play was interrupted for about 10 minutes for a nearby fireworks display. On the first point after play resumed, Li’s left ankle buckled again as she ran to her left. She fell onto her back and her head slammed against the hard court surface.
Initially dazed, she lay on the baseline where she was attended by tournament medical personnel; she eventually returned to her chair under her own power where they continued to examine her for injuries. In total another seven minutes passed before play resumed. Azarenka reeled off the next three games to re-take command of the match, this time for good.
The victory, which required two hours and 40 minutes, allowed Azarenka to join an elite club. She is now the fifth active women’s player with more than one Grand Slam singles title. The others: Serena Williams with 15, Venus Williams with 7, Maria Sharapova with 4 and Svetlana Kuznetsova with 2.
Serena Williams had come into the tournament as the prohibitive favorite but was stunned in the quarterfinals after experiencing back problems and eventually losing to the 19-year-old Stephens.
Azarenka had scares of her own, dropping a set to Jamie Hampton in the third round and then losing her composure in the final stages of her match against Stephens. Treated on a changeover after complaining of breathing problems with Stephens about to serve to stay in the match at 4-5 in the second set, Azarenka eventually left the court for medical care.
The total break lasted nearly 10 minutes, and Stephens’s coach David Nainkin later suggested that Azarenka had “bent” the rules to shift the momentum of the match.
Other analysts and coaches were also skeptical, but Azarenka, while acknowledging the coincidental timing of the injury timeout, insisted that she was suffering from a legitimate injury: a rib problem that required treatment.
In the wake of the debate, the crowd in Rod Laver Arena for the final greeted Li with considerably more warmth than Azarenka on this cool evening. Azarenka’s now-traditional garb for walking on court — head covered by sweatshirt hood — seemed appropriate given the cool temperature.
The crowd support became more evident as the match progressed, but Azarenka, one of the game’s most intense competitors, managed to recover from the loss of the first set and keep her eye on the prize despite three extended breaks in play: two when Li required medical timeouts of her own and one for the customary Australia Day fireworks display.
