Victoria Azarenka pulls off the shutout of Sofia Kenin at the Italian Open

Victoria Azarenka fires away at Sofia Kenin in her third round match at the BNL Internazionali D'Italia in Rome. 

Victoria Azarenka was relentless in her dominating feat the BNL Internazionali D’Italia Thursday night. The former world number one played as such against Sofia Kenin who failed to transition her powerful game on the clay courts of Foro Italico with a 6-0, 6-0 score on Campo Centrale. 

The two met for the second time in what was expected to be another fight for control. While it took place on the clay courts, the Belorussian had her best foot dug into the tournament. A win over her good friend Venus Williams on Wednesday showed that the transition didn’t faze her in the straight-sets result. This marked Kenin’s first competitive match on a new surface and would come down to whether she can have the same ease into it as her US Open doubles partner. 

That was not the case as Kenin reached two-point in the opening game but fell against Azarenka’s service. She then struggled with balls in hand to get into the mix but the Belorussian went on to achieve the break. Consolidating another hold of serve made it 3-0 for the 31-year-old who was on a tear against the American. Kenin’s second attempt didn’t go much better, falling behind on two key points in the fourth. She saved a breakpoint but not a second one giving Azarenka the double break. She went on to march to a 5-0 stand with ease of service to consolidate further and committed only one unforced error. 

With nothing left to do, Kenin played out the sixth but erred to give Azarenka the set win in 22 minutes. When it came to problems on court, Kenin’s only issue was building up points. Through those six games, the 31-year-old outscored the third seed 24-8 with her serve at 93 percent. Though she showed fatigue into the second set, the 2013 finalist still held serve and tested Kenin in the second. 

The American knew that she had to bring a response on the court and on game point, erred to bring up deuce for Azarenka. They played five breaks with the 21-year-old saving three breakpoints, but not a fourth. By the time Azarenka won her ninth game in a row and third of the set, 22 minutes had surpassed showing that the third seed was invested in changing up the pace. Despite Kenin’s best efforts in the fourth game, Azarenka refused to let her get away and notch the double break. 

With another service hold under her belt, Azarenka played for the match with Kenin searching for a way not to be double bageled. Unfortunately, that was not the case as the 31-year-old pulled off a dominating night, ending Kenin in an hour and a minute. Azarenka outscored the young American 57-29 in what was one-way traffic. With the best win of her return to full-time action, the Belorussian will see a match for the third straight set facing Daria Kasatkina in the round of 16.