Brisbane: A ruthless Victoria Azarenka stormed into the Brisbane International semi-finals with a 6-1, 6-2 demolition of eighth seeded Italian Roberta Vinci on Thursday. The former world number one, who won her maiden WTA title in Brisbane in 2009, swept Vinci aside in 78 minutes to set up a final four clash against American qualifier Samantha Crawford.


Victoria Azarenka returns to Italy's Roberta Vinci yesterday. Pic/AFP

Azarenka raced through the first set in just 29 minutes and although Vinci put up more resistance in the second, the result was never in doubt once she broke the Italian's serve in the fifth game to gain the vital advantage.