January 11, 2009, WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Saturday, January 10th, WTA Rising Teen Tennis Star and BEST Tennis client Victoria Azarenka captured her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Title at the Brisbane International in Australia. After reaching the final of four other Tour events (Gold Coast and Prague in 2008, and Estoril and Tashkent in 2007), the fifth final proved to “be a charm” for Azarenka who dominated 17th ranked Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-1 in seventy-one minutes at the Brisbane International Final.

“The way I was thinking on court was very different from before,” Azarenka said after the match. “I was playing every point, no matter what happened. I wasn’t thinking about the fact that I was playing in a final. I was thinking it was a regular match, regular points. That helped me because I didn’t really believe I’ve won yet. Everybody says the third time is the charm, but for me it’s the fifth – I’m just glad I finally got it!”
Azarenka, who was seeded two at the Brisbane International, defeated Lucie Safarova 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals and crushed Sara Errani 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals en route to the final.

In addition to this, the 19-year-old Belarusian Azarenka is one of the youngest players ranked in the top 15 in the world (at #14) starting the 2009 season, with 2008 being her first top-twenty finish. As a junior player, Azarenka was a Junior Grand Slam Singles Champion at the 2005 Australian Open and US Open, and also was the ITF Junior World Champion in 2005.

Azarenka currently has endorsement partnerships with Nike clothing and shoe apparel, and Head racquets. For more information on Victoria Azarenka, please visit http://www.vikaazarenkatennis.com/.