Victoria Azarenka is hoping to recover in time for Australian Open Top seed Victoria Azarenka has withdrawn from her much-anticipated Brisbane International semi-final against Serena Williams on Friday after failing to recover from an infected right big toe .Azarenka was due to play Williams in a rematch of last year's thrilling US Open final, which Williams won 7-5 in the third set.
However, after undergoing a medical procedure on her toe on Thursday, Azarenka decided she could not take to the court for her clash with Williams.
"It's been there for the last 10 days and it's been getting worse," the world number one said. "I had to take action, which I did yesterday, and I didn't have enough time to recover."
Azarenka said the toe became infected after a pedicure and said she had tried taping it and playing through the pain.
But after it failed to improve she decided to undergo medical treatment.
"It's just something that I had to do to make sure that I can be fully recovered and ready for the Australian Open," she said.
"It's a compromise I had to make.
"It's just very unfortunate timing, because I was really looking forward to playing. But I'm also quite happy I had two matches here already, which was kind of the point, to come here and get some matches."
Williams will now play either Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko in the final.
Azarenka's withdrawal is the second high profile casualty to hit the Brisbane tournament after second seed Maria Sharapova pulled out with a collarbone injury before her first match.
Meanwhile, Agnieszka Radwanska and Yanina Wickmayer used contrasting styles to overcome blustery conditions and battle their way into the final of the ASB Classic women's tournament in Auckland, on Friday.
Radwanska, the top seed, relied on precision placement to survive two tie breaks before beating Jamie Hampton 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/3), while third seed Wickmayer utilised power play to down Mona Barthel 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7/3).
Polish Radwanska had a scare in the the first set, dropping her serve in the 11th game, but stayed alive when Hampton double-faulted on set point.
From that let-off she took the tie break and raced to a 4-0 lead in the second set before the unseeded Hampton threw caution to the wind in a desperate attempt to stay in the match.
Despite being ranked 70th in the world, while Radwanska is fourth, the American stormed back to level at 4-4 and held serve through to 6-6. But in the tie-break showdown it was the poise of Radwanska that told.
Wickmayer, the winner in Auckland in 2010, will be contesting her third final there in four years after outlasting Barthel in a match that lasted one hour 48 minutes.
After winning the first set, the Belgian developed problems using her thundering first serve in the swirling wind and was broken three times before Barthel wrapped up the second set in just 20 minutes.
Barthel, who beat Wickmayer when they met in the Hobart WTA final a year ago, stayed with her higher-ranked opponent throughout the decisive third set until she double-faulted twice in the crucial tie-break.
Source: AFP