Victoria Azarenka, the women's No. 1 seed, survived her U.S. Open quarterfinal match Tuesday, as she ousted defending champion Sam Stosur in a three-set thriller, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6. The victory advanced Azarenka to the semifinals, where she will meet either third-ranked Maria Sharapova or Marion Bartoli, and guaranteed her the world's No. 1 ranking no matter what happens for the rest of the tournament.

"We played some excellent tennis," said Azrenka after the match. "You could feel the pressure all the time. We made each other run around like crazy."

Statistically, Azrenka dominated in first service points as she won 70-percent (46 of 66) of them, while Stosur converted just 58-percent. The native of Belarus also won six of her possible eight break points, while Stosur was 4-for-11.

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