Victoria Azarenka battles past Irina-Camelia Begu in round one – London Olympics 2012
World number one, Victoria Azarenka, survived a scare against the 21-year-old Romanian, Irina-Camelia Begu, in the London Olympics opener. The match was sprayed over two days due to a rain at the Centre Court on Sunday.
The 23-year-old Belarusian won the first set 6-1, lost the second battle 3-6 but bounced back well enough to win the final phase 6-1. It was the third straight triumph for the reigning world number one over the 80th
ranked Romanian. She leads the head-to-head series by 3-0.
At the end of the match, Azarenka confessed, “"It was a long wait for me - I was going to play yesterday but it got cancelled. In your first match on Centre Court there are always nerves and today I couldn't get into the match
in the second set. There were too many mistakes. I'm glad I could turn things around and finish as strong as I started.”
She added, “I actually do get more nervous when I play for my country than when I play for myself. Hopefully the next round will be much easier for me."
The opening set witnessed a complete domination from the Belarusian top seed superstar who cruised away to a lead of 3-0 at the start and just allowed a single serve hold before bagging the set courtesy another breakpoint in the
sixth game.
It was a tremendous start for the reigning Australian Open Champion who couldn’t survive the onslaught of the American number one, Serena Williams, in the semi-final latest edition of Wimbledon Championships, contested on the same
grass courts of the All England Lawn Tennis Club.
The second set witnessed an early lead for the Romanian booming starlet and a swap of breakpoints kept the initial advantage intact. Begu capitalized on the serves in the remaining part of the set and enforced the final set battle
against the expectations of the tennis fanatics.
Begu broke serve in the opening game of the final set to consolidate her position but couldn’t hold on to the lead for long as her serve was broken back in the following game. From that moment onwards, the Belarusian starlet took
over the driving seat and forced her opponent to drop two breakpoints on the trot that proved enough to end the match in an emphatic fashion for the top seed.
Victoria Azarenka faces the newly married Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in round two.
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