Azarenka retains her Aussie crown

By Dennis Passa

The Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Victoria Azarenka won her second consecutive Australian Open title, beating Li Na 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a dramatic final that contained a break for fireworks, two medical timeouts and a nasty fall to the court by Li.

The Chinese star first tumbled to the court after twisting her left ankle in the fifth game of the second set and had it taped.

On the first point after a 10-minute pause in the third set while fireworks boomed overhead from nearby Australia Day celebrations, Li fell over again and slammed the back of her head on the court. The 2011 French Open champion was treated immediately and had another timeout before being allowed to resume the match.

Azarenka, who broke down in tears and sobbed into her towel when the match ended, won five of the next six games to claim her second major title and retain the No. 1 ranking.

"Unfortunately, you have to go through some rough patches to achieve great things. That's what makes it so special for me," she said. "I went through that, and I'm still able to kiss that beautiful trophy."

Serena Williams, who lost in the quarterfinals, will become the new No. 2 in the rankings.

The 2-hour, 40-minute match featured 16 service breaks, with Li losing her service nine times.

On a crisp Saturday night, Azarenka won the coin toss and elected to receive, a ploy that seemed to work when a nervous Li was broken to start the match. After a double fault on the first point, Li's forehand long gave Azarenka the early lead.

When she first injured her ankle, Li was trailing 3-1 in the second set. When she came back, she won three of the next four games to level the set at 4-4, but Azarenka broke back and then held her serve to level the match.

Azarenka broke in the opening game of the final set, just two games before the match was suspended for the fireworks, a planned stoppage of play that both players were notified about before the match.

While Azarenka jogged around and practiced her serving motion during the 10-minute fireworks break, Li sat on her courtside chair for most of the stoppage.

It was on the first point that she again fell to the court.

Li said she went "totally black" for two seconds after her head hit the court, and when a medical official asked her to follow her finger, "I started laughing, thinking 'This is a tennis court, not like a hospital.'"

Li said the tournament doctor saw her after the match and checked out her head and neck.

"I should be OK," Li said.

Men's final

Novak Djokovic attempted to win his third consecutive Australian Open (2:30 a.m. CST today) against U.S. Open champion Andy Murray. Djokovic had the benefit of an extra day off after an easy three-set win over David Ferrer on Thursday, while Murray needed a tough five-setter to defeat Roger Federer. Murray has predicted a tough match with long rallies against Djokovic, the player he beat in the final at the U.S. Open.

"I'm ready for the pain," he said. "I hope it's a painful match, that will mean it will be a good one."

In the other final today, the unseeded pairs of Jarmila Gajdosova and Matthew Ebden of Australia and the Czech Republic's Lucie Hradecka and Frantisek Cermak play for the mixed doubles championship.

Bryans win 13th Slam

Mike and Bob Bryan have set one more record together as a doubles team -- and this may be the most special of them all.

The identical twins became the most decorated doubles team in Grand Slam history by winning their 13th major title at the Australian Open on Saturday, beating the unseeded Dutch pair of Robin Haase and Igor Sijsling 6-3, 6-4 in 53 minutes.

The 34-year-old Americans had been tied with the Australian greats John Newcombe and Tony Roche with 12 major titles.

"To be a part of history is pretty special," Mike Bryan said. "We weren't thinking about it much out there, but now that we have it, it's going to be fun to look back on our career and say we have the most Grand Slams."

The list of the brothers' accomplishments and records keeps growing. They've been ranked No. 1 in doubles for eight of the past 10 years.

They've won at least one Grand Slam title for a record nine consecutive years.

They've won a record 84 titles together overall.

Last year, they captured a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics -- one of the only major awards they had yet to win.

"As far as records, there's not much" left to achieve, Bob Bryan said. "But like we've told you before, we're competitors. We hate to lose. We want to finish No. 1."

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