Victoria Azarenka celebrates after her semi-final victory over Karolina Pliskova. Photos

Victoria victorious

MB resident Azarenka wins BNP Open

Move over, Maria Sharapova — there’s a new queen of tennis in Manhattan Beach.

From the Live Oak courts to the Manhattan Beach Country Club where Sharapova has her own private practice court, it used to be Masha’s town.

But now, thanks to their changing fortunes, it’s Vika’s town.

Victoria Azarenka, who bought a house here last year, capped off her recent comeback from a serious foot injury and a bad breakup with her rock star boyfriend RedFoo by winning the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells Sunday afternoon.

Her stunning 6-4, 6-4 victory over Serena Williams came less than a month after the equally stunning news that Sharapova, the good girl of the tennis tour who endorses everything from cameras to candy, had failed a drug test for the banned substance meldonium and would be subject to a suspension that could last up to four years.

Sharapova, who has had a house here for the last ten years, called a press conference to apologize to her fans, plead for mercy and say that she would not appeal whatever punishment the Women’s Tennis Association dishes out.

Her absence has left Azarenka and Williams, who grew up in nearby Compton, as the two biggest names in women’s tennis. Azarenka has had fierce rivalries with both of them, with Williams dominating her 17-4 in match wins before Sunday’s final at the tournament often called the “fifth major” because it lasts two weeks, features both men’s and women’s players, and is ranked behind only the four Grand Slam events – Wimbledon, French Open, US Open and Australian Open.

But even before she got a chance to return to Manhattan Beach and celebrate with friends, Azarenka’s victory was quickly overshadowed by controversial comments made by tournament director Ray Moore, who belittled female players and the women’s tour in a post-match press conference.

“In my next life when I come back I want to be someone in the WTA, because they ride on the coattails of the men,” Moore said. “They don’t make any decisions and they are lucky. They are very, very lucky. If I was a lady player, I’d go down every night on my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born, because they have carried this sport. They really have.”

Moore compounded his unforced error by talking about possible successors to Williams, who has been on the tour for 18 years, and Sharapova, who may never return after 13 years on the tour.

The women’s tour, he said, has “some very attractive players,” singling out Eugenie Bouchard, the up-and-coming Canadian blonde and Garbine Muguruza, the Spanish brunette and recent Wimbledon finalist. Asked what he meant by attractive, he responded “players who are physically attractive and competitively attractive.”

After the twitterverse exploded in outrage, Moore issued an abject apology, completely retracting his statements and saying they are not how he really feels. And while players like Williams and the legendary Billie Jean King roundly condemned Moore’s comments, Azarenka took a softer tone.

“I think people should remember that everyone, male or female, was given birth by a woman,” she said. “I’ll leave it at that.”

Moore resigned Monday night in an attempt to put out the feminist fire he had lit. Perhaps it will also allow the spotlight to return to Azarenka’s courageous comeback as she is now, at age 26, poised to start a long run at the top of the hyper-competitive women’s tour as Williams edges toward retirement and Sharapova faces a long suspension.

Azarenka, a blond woman who is two years younger than Sharapova and four inches shorter at 5-foot-10, has long been compared to her, and not just because she is from Belarus and Sharapova from Russia. The hyper-competitive Azarenka modeled her athletic, baseline bashing game – wheel-of-fire forehand and two-fisted backhand – after Sharapova, and she has an equally erratic serve: pounding aces one day, but producing dozens of double faults the next day.

While their two games are very similar visually, they are exactly the same aurally: both emit a high-pitched, screeching shriek every time they strike the ball. When they play each other – and they have played 15 times, with Sharapova ahead 8-7 – the sonic warfare is deafening, like being forced to listen as two women are strangled by Jack the Ripper. Azarenka’s shrieking is so similar that there has been speculation that she deliberatelay imitated Sharapova, a charge she has denied.

Beyond their similar games and sound effects, tennis insiders have long insisted there is an intense rivalry and even dislike between the two players who live less than a half mile apart. Sources say that a few years ago Azarenka asked the MBCC for a private practice court similar to the one set up for Sharapova. While the club was more than happy to grant her request, Sharapova reportedly vetoed it and said she would leave if the request was granted.

How quickly things can change: if Vika made the same request today, she would get her practice court and Misha would have to deal with it or take her tennis balls and go home.

Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com