she was the top seed. After receiving a first-round bye, she defeated Francesca Schiavone, Urszula Radwańska and Ana Ivanovic (the latter in three sets) before losing to Samantha Stosur in straight sets in the championship match. The loss to Stosur marked her first loss against her, after previously winning their first eight encounters. Azarenka later withdrew from the Rogers Cup, citing a back injury. Seeded second at Cincinnati, Azarenka received a first round bye, following which she won her first match at the tournament since 2009, when she defeated local hope Vania King in the second round. That was then followed by wins over Magdaléna Rybáriková, Caroline Wozniacki (her first victory against her since 2009) and Jelena Janković, en route to reaching her fifth final of the year, where she defeated Serena Williams in a championship match to pick up her third title for the year. At the US Open, where Azarenka was seeded second, she reached the final for the second consecutive year. In her first round match, she defeated Dinah Pfizenmaier without losing a game. In her second round match, she defeated Aleksandra Wozniak in straight sets. In her third and fourth round matches, she respectively battled past Alizé Cornet and Ana Ivanovic, coming from a set down to win both matches. In her quarterfinal match, she defeated Daniela Hantuchová in straight sets. In the semifinal match, she defeated surprise semifinalist Flavia Pennetta. However, she lost in the final to Serena Williams in three sets. Azarenka then endured an unsuccessful Asian swing, losing in the second round to former number one and seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams in straight sets in Tokyo and losing in the first round to Andrea Petkovic in an error-riddled performance in Beijing. Azarenka's 2013 season ended with a poor showing at the 2013 WTA Tour Championships, winning only one of her three-round robin matches and failing to reach the semifinals for the first time since 2010. 2014–15: Injuries and struggle Azarenka's 2014 season was blighted by a foot injury. As a result, she missed five months of the season, and called an early end to her season in September. The injuries forced her to miss seven of her first 16 events of the season, including the 2014 French Open. Azarenka only managed to make it to one final all season, in her first tournament of the year in Brisbane, where she lost