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Following her fourth-round win at the 2023 Guadalajara Open, Victoria Azarenka enthusiastically led the cheering crowd in a spontaneous celebratory dance.
Azarenka advanced to the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 event in Mexico after securing a dominant 6-2, 6-1 win over Veronika Kudermetova. The former World No. 1 put on a clinical performance, converting five of her 11 break point opportunities and winning 35 of 63 return points overall.
Following her win, Victoria Azarenka joked about feeling left out while the audience danced along to music during the changeovers, as she needed to stay focused on the match. After she humorously remarked on wanting the music to be restarted, the DJ indulged her request and the Belarusian shook a leg along with the delighted crowd.
"The music was playing and the people were dancing and I just wanted to get up and dance with people but I have to stay focused because I still had a match to play. But I was just like, 'Can we get some music so I can dance a little bit with everybody'," she said during her on-court interview.
Victoria Azarenka to lock horns with Caroline Garcia in Guadalajara Open QF
Victoria Azarenka has been in excellent form during her campaign at the 2023 Guadalajara Open. The 10th seed commenced her bid for her 11th WTA 1000 title with a commanding 6-1, 6-1 win over Robin Montgomery.
She then defeated Dayana Yastremska 6-4, 7-6(5) to reach the Round of 16 in Mexico. With her win over Veronika Kudermetova, the former World No. 1 reached the quarterfinals. She will lock horns with third seed Caroline Garcia in the semifinals of the WTA 1000 event.
Following a bye in the first round, Garcia secured a comeback win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich, winning 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 to commence her campaign in Mexico. She then defeated Hailey Baptiste 7-5, 6-4 to book her spot in the quarterfinals.
Garcia leads 3-1 in her head-to head against Azarenka, having won their previous encounters at the 2019 Cincinnati Open and 2019 Miami Open in straight sets, as well as their clash at the 2019 Mallorca Open. However, it was the Belarusian who came out on top in their most recent encounter at the 2020 Cincinnati Open.
Should Victoria Azarenka claim her second win over the Frenchwoman, she will take on the winner of the match between second seed Maria Sakkari and Colombia's Emiliana Arango.
Azarenka enjoyed success at last year's edition of the Guadalajara Open as well, making a run to the semifinals before suffering a straight sets defeat to eventual champion Jessica Pegula.
