lost in the final to the world No. 3 team of Liezel Huber and Cara Black, in three sets. Azarenka's results at the Kremlin Cup elevated her rankings to career highs of world No. 27 in singles and world No. 29 in doubles. 2008: Australian Open final in doubles Azarenka began the year at the Australian Women's Hardcourts tournament in Gold Coast. Unseeded, she reached the semifinals, where she beat fifth-seeded Shahar Pe'er of Israel, Azarenka's sixth top-20 victory. In her third career WTA Tour final, she lost to Li Na, but the points she earned in this tournament were enough to improve her ranking to a career-best world No. 25. Azarenka was seeded 26th at the Australian Open. This was her first appearance as a seeded player in a Grand Slam singles tournament. She showed no ill effects from a leg injury while winning her first two matches, but lost in the third round to seventh-seeded, defending champion and future rival Serena Williams. In doubles, Azarenka and her partner Pe'er were seeded 12th. They made it to the finals, before losing to the unseeded team of Kateryna and Alona Bondarenko. Azarenka entered the French Open as the form player of the clay court season, having reached the semifinals in Berlin and the quarterfinals in Rome. Seeded 16th, she won her first three matches in straight sets, for the loss of only six games. In the second round, she defeated Sorana Cîrstea of Romania, before defeating 18th-seeded and future French Open champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy in the third round. She then lost to fourth-seeded Kuznetsova in the fourth round. Azarenka teamed with American Bob Bryan to win the mixed doubles title at the French Open, defeating the top seeded team of Katarina Srebotnik and Nenad Zimonjić in the final. At Wimbledon, Azarenka was seeded 16th in singles and 6th in doubles (with Pe'er). In singles, Azarenka was defeated by 21st-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia in the third round in two close tiebreaks. In doubles, Azarenka and Pe'er reached the quarterfinals, where they lost to the top-seeded team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber. At the Olympic tennis tournament in Beijing, Azarenka lost to Venus Williams in the third round. Azarenka was seeded 14th at the US Open, but was defeated by 21st seed Caroline Wozniacki in the third round. 2009: Miami Open title, French Open final in doubles and