‘Bad pedicure experience’ forces Azarenka to pull out of semi-final

Thirty minutes before the match against her American opponent, the defending Australian Open champion announced she would be unable to compete after undergoing a minor procedure to fix an ingrown nail that infected her right big toe.

“It’s been there for about ten days,” said the 23-year-old Belorussian.

“It’s just been getting worse a little bit,” she added. “I don’t know in medical terms, but I had to get a piece (of nail) out of my toe because it was jamming into me and got infected.

“It’s something that’s very just really unfortunate, but I had to do that. It was just jamming underneath into the skin. I was trying to minimise the pain with taping and everything.

“Yesterday it got worse. It got really infected and got really red, so we had to go and see the doctor. He had to open it. That’s what I had to do.”

Azarenka had won her first two matches at Brisbane without any signs of discomfort, but the eagerly-anticipated showdown against the third-ranked Williams failed to materialise.

“It just got infected from a bad pedicure experience,” she added.

“I had somebody who gave me an infection. They cut a little bit too much and it got infected. And then from as much as we do, as much exercise, it’s just been jamming into it and it’s created an infection inside. Actually the doctor said it happens a lot. Never happened to me, so it’s something that I am definitely going to prevent for the next time.

“We tried medication with taping, and I was playing through the pain for quite a while. You know, it’s just something that I had to do to make sure that I can be fully recovered and ready for Australian Open. It’s the compromise I had to take.

“It’s just very unfortunate timing, because I was really looking forward to playing, but the health is definitely something that’s more important.”

Despite the setback, Azarenka expects to be fully fit when the Australian Open begins in Melbourne on 14 January. “The procedure has been done and the worst already passed by. It just needs some time to get it better.”

Williams said she could empathize with Azarenka. “I like Vika. I think she’s a great player. I love playing her,” Williams said. “I had that toe problem just a couple weeks ago and it’s painful... it’s so painful. Doesn’t sound painful, but it is. You can’t walk with that. I hope she gets better fast.”

With her impressive finish to the 2012 season taking her major tally to 15, Williams is the most formidable player in women’s tennis. She has won 34 of her last 35 matches since a first-round exit at the French Open and is in contention to return to the No 1 ranking if she wins the Australian Open.

In the Brisbane final she will meet Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who beat Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the other semi-final. The match was an error-strewn affair and five of the first seven games went against serve before Tsurenko finally took a grip on the first set.

That was as good as it got for the world No 116, though, as Pavlyuchenkova dominated the remainder of the contest.