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Vintage Azarenka beats Pegula to return to Australian Open semifinals

Ten years after her most recent Australian Open semifinal, two-time champion Victoria Azarenka is back into the final four with a 6-4 6-1 victory over Jessica Pegula.

Entering the match, the third-seeded Pegula was a slight favorite as she had dropped just 18 games en route to the quarterfinals and spent far less time on court than Azarenka who even fought past 2 a.m. to battle past Zhu Lin in the fourth round. Still, vintage Vika prevented the American from advancing to her first Grand Slam semifinal.

After starting out with a 3-0 lead, Azarenka was constantly endangered as five of the next six games included deuces.