Conditions were not good enough for Victoria Azarenka to make a statement at the Australian Open. Having breathing problems during her match with Jessica Pegula resulted in costly mistakes that took her out of the first round 7-5, 6-4 on Margaret Court Arena at Melbourne Park.
The two-time champion down under didn’t finish strong in her warmup bout last week. Though she gave Yulia Putintseva a beating early in their match, the Belorussian couldn’t hold her consistency together until a chance on the tiebreak went her way. In order to prepare for the year’s first slam, Azarenka took a break to prep for her first meeting with Pegula, who earned two out of three at the Yarra Valley Classic. In just her second appearance in the tournament, the 26-year-old kept her hopes high to pull off a serious upset.
Azarenka fired a serve to love to open the match, setting the bar high for the American to top. Pegula managed to hold her end, but nowhere close to a shutout of a former world number one. Azarenka answered with another quick victory in the third, scoring another serve to love. Pegula stayed in touch, but after five games, she had yet to score a point against Azarenka’s service games. The Belorussian notched a break of Pegula, doubling her lead through six games.
The seventh game saw Pegula scratch a point for herself against Azarenka’s serve and soon took her to deuce. Despite the threat, the 31-year-old handled the situation and held serve to play for the set. Pegula didn’t want to give up, and in the eighth, she battled the 12th seed to deuce where they went three sets before she successfully held her off. The American wasn’t done in her efforts to extend the set against Azarenka who almost had set points but was denied early.
They went to deuce, and three breaks later the American had another victory putting her a game down from forcing the set deep. With the break in hand, Pegula served to level and clinched the hold on Azarenka adding pressure when it counted. She made a big move in the 11th, breaking Azarenka with a late rush to deuce and soon the AD point. The American had her opponent figured out and with the late stages of the set remaining, she made a push to go for broke. On serve in the 12th, Pegula opened up to 40-15, holding set points before her next attempt clinched it for her in 52 minutes.
The second became a test of skills for both Azarenka and Pegula as they held serve through four games. Azarenka waited for her moment to change things up in the set, and by the fifth, she struck back on Pegula to take it 3-2. Before the sixth got into motion, Azarenka called out officials to discuss her needing a moment longer with conditions becoming warmer. Pegula went on to take the game on serve, doubling her margin on the 12th seed who inched closer to being out of the tournament.
In the seventh, Azarenka was up 40-0 before she went to the corner of the court with problems breathing. The tournament doctor and trainer quickly came to court to help her alleviate the issues. The 12th seed left the court for a medical evaluation, putting Pegula on hold for five minutes. Azarenka returned alone to the court to applause as she grabbed her racket to resume play. Pegula got to deuce with a double fault at 40-30 and soon had the AD point. Azarenka saved that one and a second from Pegula to hold her end despite the issues that came into the competition.
The Belorussian regrouped nicely in the eighth to break and level the score to keep up the pressure. It didn’t take much away from Pegula as she stepped up to break Azarenka to a point taking a 5-4 lead. With the chance to serve for the match, Pegula didn’t rush the tenth and let her opponent make the errors. The American got to a pair of match points to put away the 12th seed on back to back winners that ended it in 1 hour and 39 minutes.
No comments:
Post a Comment