MELBOURNE, Australia — The rankings suggest that Angelique Kerber’s 6-3, 7-5 victory over Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open on Wednesday was not an upset. At No. 6 in the WTA’s world rankings, Kerber was 10 spots higher than Azarenka.
The joy on Kerber’s face after she won the last five games of the second set to advance to her third career major semifinal told a different story. Since their first meeting in 2012, Azarenka had become the blemish on Kerber’s record that she could not blot out, no matter how valiantly she tried.