DOHA - Victoria Azarenka avenged the loss of her world No.1 ranking to Serena Williams by beating the American for only the second time in 13 attempts to successfully defend her Qatar Open title yesterday.
The Belarusian's 7-6 (8-6) 2-6 6-3 win over the legendary American also completed back-to-back title defences, as last month she also defended the Australian Open title in Melbourne.
"I just wanted to fight and give it my best, and give myself every opportunity," said Azarenka, when asked how she recovered from the one-sided loss of the second set.
"I started at love-30 down and it was 'you have to keep it together and pull it around'. Serena was on a roll.
"I knew she would bring her A game, and I was really glad I could stay tough and focussed."
She was helped by Williams making the worst of starts.