Victoria Azarenka defeats Elena Baltacha in the second round – AEGON International 2011
Local Elena Baltacha’s hopes fizzled away pretty quickly when she was defeated at the hands of the 5th ranked Belarusian, Victoria Azarenka in the second round of the 2011 AEGON International.
The Belarusian No.1 moved into the third round of the tournament with a clinical straight sets win over Baltacha, who collapsed in a heap after missing too many chances. Although she raised the level of her game in the second set
of the match, it was of no avail. Her Belarusian opponent was very patient throughout the match, receiving lots of balls back into play, waiting for the error from her 27-year-old opponent.
A barrage of fiery forehands saw Azarenka go 2-0 early in the opener. Although Baltacha broke back and put herself on the scoreboard, trailing 1-2, this was the last time for a while the local would find herself making any headway
in the score. Fighting hard to break in the fourth game, Belarusian found her form and reeled off four games in a row to take the first set 6-1.
However, in the second set, the pressure started to tell. Azarenka hit a number of unforced errors and conceded a break as her opponent was jumping all over on her weak serve. In the resulting tie-break later in the set, Baltacha
was left cursing her own mistakes. A double fault and netted smash gave her opponent a 7-6(0) lead in the set.
Azarenka, who is only 21-year-old, will just be glad to be in the third round, but she will have to play better than she did. Baltacha showed her inexperience with her surrender in the second set, and is an altogether different
obstacle than the dual-fisted Marion Bartoli of France in the third round of the tournament.
Azarenka and Bartoli have met each other on six different occasions and it’s the Belarusian, who leads their head-to-head sequence to 6-0. Azarenka is a favourite in this one simply based on her current form, but if her mental
game is just a little bit off during her showdown, Bartoli will have a great chance at the upset.
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