The Belarusian took a controversial ten-minute medical timeout after suffering from "breathing problems" in her semi-final against American teenager Sloane Stephens on Thursday (January 24), but those apparent health issues seemed to have subsided as she overcame a nervous start to battle her way to victory against her Chinese opponent.

Li, 30, was forced into two medical time-outs after falling over and twisting her ankle in the second set- an injury which appeared to hinder her performance as she made an incredible 57 unforced errors during the tie.

Belarusian Azarenka defeated Li Na of China to win the 2013 Australian Open

The Melbourne crowd made their thoughts on Azarenka's suspect-looking time-out in the semi-final clear with vociferous support for Li and a somewhat harsh reception for the returning champion.

"I was expecting way worse, to be honest," she said of the crowd response following her win in the final.

"What can you do?

"You just have to go out there and try to play tennis.

"It's a tennis match, tennis battle, the final of the Australian Open.

Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka came in for criticism from the Melbourne crowd following her controversial time-out in her semi-final against Sloane Stephens

"The pressure was there, but I like the pressure.

"It's a very interesting thing.

"It pushes you to be better.

"You can take it as a negative, but I take it as a positive.

This was not the first time the Melbourne crowd have turned on Azarenka, as they mocked her infamous "grunting" throughout her second-round win over Mona Barthel last year and booed her from the court following after she fiercely protested two line-calls.

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