Victoria Azarenka endured a very difficult return to the sport but came out victorious at the Mallorca Open Wednesday. The former number one had to put in every inch of herself to playing a three setter that had a long delay but finished in a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(7) victory over
The former number one made her return in over a year as an injury soon led to good news in her personal life. The 27-year-old was soon with child thereafter and gave birth to a son at the tail end of the year. While it stopped her from playing, her heart remained in tennis and was ready to prove a point once again. Facing Ozaki was a great way to start fresh having not faced the Japanese star before. The 23-year-old didn’t have a good start to the grass court last week as she took on Kristina Mladenovic in a difficult match. With Azarenka just coming back, her skills were ready to make marks back on tour and prove her worth of being at the top.
She proved it early with a long first game against Ozaki that saw her warming up slowly. The two week a few breaks but in the end, the game went to the Belorussian. She began to get into gear taking her first opening serve with her strengths showing. By the end of the third, she was becoming dominant against the Japanese star. It lasted four games until Ozaki found her way of holding a serve of hers together.
She caught another game to her name but it wasn’t enough to stop Azarenka who was on a mission of making her return count to the fullest. Ozaki wanted the same result for herself as she answered Azarenka with another win to keep her alive in the opening set. With another chance to get the job done, the Belorussian decided she had enough of the extension and put the brakes on Ozaki's serve to take the final game and end the set in 44 minutes. Despite having 14 unforced errors and a double fault, the game she had on court was enough to keep her going and improve while succeeding.
She got into service tradeoffs with Ozaki leading the way on the score after the third. The two remained on serve through four but the young Japanese player pulled off a break that gave her the first lead change in the match. It was becoming a bigger run for the 23-year-old as she had two games between herself and Azarenka allowing her to make a run for the set. in the seventh, Ozaki went for another key break against the unranked superstar forcing deuce with her on the break. Azarenka fired an ace to get the advantage and win her game on a ball landing wide of the court.
She was still down a game and the next one was fully in the hands of Ozaki who pushed forward to take a 5-3 run and play for the set. Getting it was a very difficult moment for Ozaki as Azarenka’s serve pushed her to fight on every point that eventually led to deuce. They went several breaks making it the longest game of the match before Azarenka locked one for herself. Ozaki had enough of her opponent’s comeback and made it her mission to push the set forward.
The 23-year-old put all her efforts to attacking Azarenka which led to her success to capturing the set in 51 minutes. Her 72 percent first serve percentage was huge for her as well as the unforced errors that gave her free points. It was a clear concern for the former number one who took her first conference with coach Michael Joyce. Joyce told Azarenka to get on the ball and don’t let her dictate the way she has been. The need for focus had to come according to him with just a set left for either player to find their way to victory.
Ozaki kept on the same pace she had in the previous set and made her mark by taking a strong 3-1 lead on the former number one. She earned another break on Azarenka right before the Belorussian had enough of being taken for a ride she did not want to accept. In response, Azarenka fired off a counter attack on Ozaki to win the sixth for the break and inch closer to grabbing the set away.
She got within one game of Ozaki but the fight turned into two as they both fought the light that was left in their day to play on. The game went to deuce where Azarenka had the break chance but was denied an early finish. They went to four breaks before an unforced error killed the opportunity for a tie game and gave the Japanese star a 5-3 lead. During the break, Azarenka pleaded with the umpire to suspend the game due to insufficient light.
When she found out the decision was in the hands of the tournament referee, Azarenka found him and tried to get it shut down. The two went on with play with the 23-year-old in play to upset the superstar. Azarenka tried to keep herself alive and did it to get in reach of a game. With the third set at 5-4 in favor of Ozaki, the tournament referee decided to suspend the match due to lack of light and finish the game on Wednesday.
The two returned with Ozaki serving for the match nailing down the first point before the Belorussian redirected shots in the rally to even the score. She overtook at 40-15 for two break points where a lob helped her dictate the rally and stay in the match. The former number one served in the 11th as two games would decide a winner.
A sudden struggle from Azarenka gave an easy pass to Ozaki to reach triple break and back in position for the match. She swiftly reached three match points before a save on a ball in net gave her another shot. Good ball placement on the returns gave her another point with one point left to be saved. She got it on a long ball from Ozaki that sent things to deuce. Azarenka gained the break point on an eight-shot rally that pushed the set to a critical tiebreaker.
Ozaki took a 3-1 lead before Azarenka answered back with a big point to keep her in. The errors proved to be difficult to deal with as the margin grew between the two. Azarenka kept it close in the score but the closer one got to seven, the sooner the match would end. It was turning into shots that went long that kept both Ozaki and Azarenka within reach of each other. The Belorussian successfully got even at five all with only seven needed to win.
A stunning forehand from Azarenka gave her the lead and match point with the ball in play. Another long ball brought it back to level pegging for Ozaki giving her another chance at ending the pressure on her. The same could be said for the former number one as her second match point went long with no help of challenging the call. Despite the troubles, it was three time being the charm as her 16 shot rally with Ozaki allowed her to smash the shot away from the 23-year-old to win the match in a come from behind win. It took 2 hours and 44 minutes in a very difficult return for Azarenka.
While she would continue to brush off the rust, the 27-year-old would go into the second round to face Ana Konjuh on Thursday.
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