Azarenka Ends Drought With Another Win Over Sharapova

Victoria Azarenka won her 26 matches which included 4 titles, but she hadn't won title #5 of 2012 despite reaching 3 finals, until yesterday, when she bested Maria Sharapova 6-3 6-1 in the Beijing final, raising her '12 record over the Russian and world no. 2 to 4-1.

-It is her 13th career title, 5th of 2012, last '12 Indian Wells (over 6-mon drought)
-It is her 5th Tier I title, others '09 Miami, '11 Miami, '12 Doha, '12 Indian Wells
-She leads Sharapova by 800 points, which means she would need a disastrous year end championships to lose the number 1 ranking this year
-Bartoli and Li were the losing semifinalists, but were easily beaten by Azarenka and Sharapova, respectively
-Radwanska has a F and QF to show for the Asian swing this year after sweeping the events last year.

2012 Tier I title winners:
Doha - Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
Indian Wells - Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
Miami - Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)
Madrid - Serena Williams (USA)
Rome - Maria Sharapova (RUS)
Montreal - Petra Kvitova (CZE)
Cincinnati - Na Li (CHN)
Tokyo - Nadia Petrova (RUS)
Beijing - Victoria Azarenka (BLR)

In ATP action, Novak Djokovic again won the Beijing title, so he has now won there the last 3 times he has played there as he skipped it last year.  And in Tokyo, Kei Nishikori was the local hero, winning the biggest title of his career in front of his home crowd.

ATP 500: Beijing, China

1) Novak Djokovic (SRB) def. 3) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) 7-6(2) 6-2

-Djokovic wins 32nd career title, 4th of 2012, last '12 Toronto
-It is his 3rd title in Beijing
-Other QF:  Feliciano Lopez (ESP)-SF, Florian Mayer (GER)-SF, Jurgen Melzer (AUT), Sam Querrey (USA), Mikhail Youzhny (RUS), Ze Zhang (CHN)
-Other seeds:  2) Ferrer (R1 ret. to Lu), 4) Cilic (R1 l. to Copil), 5) Gasquet (R2 l. to Zhang), 6) Dolgopolov (R2 l. to Melzer), 7) Haas (R1 l. to Youzhny), 8) Verdasco (R1 l. to Querrey)

-Berdych was the defending champion, but he played Tokyo this year and made the QF
-Tsonga and Youzhny were in the quarters last year as was Berdych, who made the QF in Tokyo this year.

-Zhang, a Chinese wildcard ranked #163 entering the tournament, became the first Chinese since '95 to reach an ATP quarterfinal.
-He beat Di Wu (#156 coming in) in R1 in a battle between the only Chinese in the draw.  They are the only Chinese ranked in the top 100.
-Americans went 2-3 with Harrison and Baker losing first round matches.  Harrison is in a bit of a funk right now but this was a good result for Querrey, who posted wins over Verdasco and Seppi before falling to Lopez.
-There were to 3rd set tiebreaks in the tournament, both in R1, and both 7-3: Melzer def. Andujar and Tsonga def. Istomin

ATP 500: Tokyo, Japan
8) Kei Nishikori (JPN) def. 6) Milos Raonic (CAN) 7-6(5) 3-6 6-0

-Nishikori wins 2nd career title, last '08 Delray Beach
-Other QF:  1) Andy Murray (GBR)-SF, 2) Tomas Berdych (CZE), 3) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB), 7) Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI), Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)-SF, Q) Dmitry Tursunov (RUS)
-Other seeds:  4) Monaco (R2 l. to Baghdatis), 5) Almagro (R1 l. to Ito)
-Murray was the defending champion, but lost a thriller to Raonic in the SF.

-Murray was the only returning quarterfinalist, the '11 group included Nadal, Ferrer, and Fish.
-Outside of Nishikori, it wasn't a great tournament for the Japanese as they went just 1-4 with Ito the only winner.  And their #2 Soeda was drawn against Nishikori in R1.
-Raonic survived back-to-back 3rd set tiebreaks defeating Tipsarevic 6-7(5) 6-2 7-6(7) and Murray 6-3 6-7(5) 7-6(4)
-Also a great match was Wawrinka def. Chardy in R2 7-6(1) 6-7(6) 7-5

A quick preview of Shanghai next week where Federer will return to action:

In 2011, Murray def. Ferrer in the final.  However, Ferrer will miss the tournament after pulling out of Beijing with an injury.  Has the Spanish #2 ever been injured before?  Doesn't seem like it.
Lopez and Nishikori reached the SF while Roddick, Dolgopolov, Mayer, and Ebden reached the QF.  That is an unlikely 8 to reach a Masters quarterfinal, but I wouldn't be shocked if had similar results this year.  Del Potro is also out of Shanghai meaning 3 top 10 players are missing.