Victoria Azarenka (Getty)
An upbeat Linda Noskova takes on the experienced Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals of the Adelaide International 1 on Friday.
It has been a great campaign so far for Linda Noskova. She has come a long way since losing her first set in the first qualifying match versus Anna Kalinskaya. After defeating Kalinskaya and Anastasia Potapova in the qualifiers, Noskova has continued her good form into the main draw.
In the round of 32, the 18-year-old produced arguably the biggest upset of the tournament as she edged past third seed Daria Kasatkina. The match ended 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3 in favor of Noskova. She followed it up with a comfortable win against America’s Claire Liu in the round of 16. The one-sided encounter ended 6-2, 6-2.
The 33-year-old began the new season with a hard-fought win against Anhelina Kalinina in two competitive sets 7-6 (11-9), 7-6 (7-5). The match could have easily gone the other way but Azarenka’s experience helped her in crunch situations.
In the round of 16, Azarenka blew away Qinwen Zheng of China in the first set. The former world No. 1 was made to work hard in the second set but she eventually proved to be too strong for the 20-year-old.
Victoria Azarenka and Linda Noskova have never faced each other as yet. Therefore, the head-to-head scoreline currently stands at 0-0.
Prediction: Victoria Azarenka to win in three sets.
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