Victoria Azarenka takes Maria Sakkari down in straight sets to reach Ostrava Open final

Victoria Azarenka in action during the semifinal with Maria Sakkari at the Ostrava Open Saturday

What was expected to be a close match ended with Victoria Azarenka steamrolling into the final of the J&T Banka Ostrava Open Saturday. Maria Sakkari couldn’t get it together early but fired in the second but came up short 6-1, 6-3 on center court at Ostravar Arena. 

This was the first meeting between the power hitters and at a critical moment in the tournament. The Greek star already had a huge win under her belt, smashing top-seeded Elina Svitolina before taking down Ons Jabeur in Friday’s quarterfinal. Azarenka had a terrific result for the second time against Elise Mertens, taking control of the match in its late stages. Despite not having a lot of experience against the 25-year-old, she would need to be on her toes and answer the Greek’s strong forehand. 

Sakkari brought her tactics to the court right away, moving well around the court to get ahead in the first. Avoiding the break, Azarenka forced deuce to dig in against the Greek and do whatever it took to hold serve. After five breaks and three break points saved, the fourth seed held what was impressive between the two. In response to her reactions, the Belorussian notched a second win, breaking Sakkari before scoring a serve to love in the third. 

The fourth seed pounced on another opportunity by gaining the lead on the 25-year-old’s service game to notch the double break. Azarenka’s dominance continued to rock Sakkari, who suffered another game loss. The Belorussian fell behind with a pair of unforced errors but rallied back to take a 5-0 lead with the bagel close at hand. Sakkari wouldn’t let that happen, forcing mistakes from Azarenka that allowed the Greek to hold serve, ending the shutout. Tying another victory together wasn’t part of the Belorussian’s plan as she watched Sakkari make the return errors that allowed her to see the first set ended in 32 minutes. 

For the third time in the match, Azarenka made the mark, breaking Sakkari to open the second set. The 25-year-old continued to make errors when she needed to find a way to counterattack and gain momentum over the fourth seed. It didn’t come in the shape of a break as the former world number one went up 2-0. Sakkari tried using a crosscourt strategy that is the norm for Azarenka but it didn’t pan out as errors from the Greek appeared throughout the third. 

The fourth saw the two get into a competitive fight for it with Sakkari making her best push for the break. Though she forced Azarenka to make it to deuce, keeping ahead of her was a heavy task. They played through four breaks with Sakkari attaining one chance but erring to give the fourth seed her fifth win in a row. 

Fighting to get another game under her belt, the 25-year-old dug into another deuce game where after three breaks, she was able to force an error from Azarenka. Sakkari got another one in the shape of breaking Azarenka to love. Movements in the court and directing the ball around helped her notch a second straight. The Greek’s service game picked up the pace, notching a third game from the Belorussian who started making the errors and lost ground in the set. 

Holding one game left, Azarenka overcame a 0-30 start in the eight and fired away three good points on serve. Sakkari answered with a force of deuce but after five breaks, she committed the error that gave Azarenka a 5-3 stand with a chance for the match. The 25-year-old had a terrific start to her service game but errors late gave Azarenka a shot on deuce where it took one break and an AD point to give the fourth seed the win on a seven-shot rally that saw Sakkari’s crosscourt to fall long ending the match in 1 hour and 36 minutes.