MELBOURNE, Australia — Her seeding is not yet back in line with the quality of play or the expectations.
Once No. 1, Victoria Azarenka is still just No. 14 on the draw sheet at this Australian Open, but she is rumbling through the early rounds like a member of the elite, and it would come as absolutely no surprise at this stage to see her back in another final in Melbourne, where she won back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2013.
Take it from Barbora Strycova, the versatile Czech veteran who has lost to Azarenka at the Australian Open for three straight years — in the second round in 2014, the third in 2015 and the fourth on Monday.