Victoria Azarenka begins her Madrid Open campaign with a victory – Tennis News
Tennis fans have been anxiously waiting to see the Belligerent Belarusian, Victoria Azarenka, back in action and she didn’t disappoint anyone. The former world number one had a fierce battle in the opening round of Mutua Madrid
Open on Monday afternoon but came out victorious in the end. She was up against the crafty world number 19, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and sustained her clean sheet against her in straight sets. Azarenka had to battle for two hours and 14 minutes to settle
the two-setter at 7-6(8), 7-6(3), to begin her voyage on a high note.
The third ranked Belarusian had defeated Pavlyuchenkova in all the previous three encounters she had against her and the Monday’s victory gave her a 4-0 lead in the all-time head-to-head series. The 21-year-old Russian had an excellent
recent tournament in Oeiras, winning the Portugal Open title on Sunday. She was expected to carry on with her winning roll in Madrid as well but the 19th ranked Russian couldn’t overcome the might of the former world number one.
Azarenka had a tough time in the match but managed to claim both sets in tie-break rounds. She was pushed to her limits on both occasions and seemed a bit struggling against Pavlyuchenkova at some moments. However, the Belarusian
diva showed her true class in the end and disposed of her opponent in a convincing manner.
"There were a lot of ups and downs - when you don't play so much, you kind of lose how to feel that momentum in the match," Azarenka said. "Sometimes I was waiting for her mistakes too much, and she's obviously not going to do
that, so I really had to take the opportunities in my hands and make it. It worked out well for me when I just tried to play my game. I was just playing a little bit stupid, I think, and she definitely got loose and nothing to lose. I kind of got lost in what
I was doing and made some easy mistakes and didn't do much with it.”
Azarenka will take on the other unseeded Russian, Ekaterina Makarova, in the second round of the tournament later this week.
Tags: