Victoria Azarenka comes through in three sets over Ekaterina Alexandrova

Victoria Azarenka delivered a big punch in the late stages to come through at the Mutua Madrid Open Friday. The former two-time finalist handled the end of her first-round match with Ekaterina Alexandrova winning 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 on Arantxa Sanchez Stadium at the Caja Magica in the Spanish capital.  

The two faced each other three years ago on the grass courts of Wimbledon where the former world number one took care of business. In her first clay-court match of the season, the 31-year-old would be tested by the Russian to see whether she could get in gear or not. Alexandrova had a good run in Stuttgart making it all the way to the last eight. In her first main draw appearance at Madrid, the 26-year-old hoped to be at her best against the former world number one. 

Alexandrova opened service with a 40-0 run but watched it quickly get to deuce as Azarenka upped her response. She forced deuce but couldn’t get the breakpoint opportunity. Despite the loss of a break chance, the Belorussian went on to put up a service to love against Alexandrova. With both capable of bringing high-quality offense, they allowed short points through the next three games with the Russian leading the way. As the Russian had the lead, Azarenka wanted to level the score once more, but things began to get serious. 

The Russian forced deuce during Azarenka’s service and caught a breakpoint chance to steal it away. The 31-year-old refused to let that occur and fought through the next two breaks to clinch it. In response, the former world number one got into position for a break in the seventh but was forced to deuce. They played three breaks where Azarenka prevented Alexandrova from leveling on two chances before scoring the break. 

The Russian broke back and consolidated on serve in the ninth to threaten once again. With the set closing in and the battle increasing between the two, the Belorussian answered with a huge serve to love that leveled the score at five-all. Azarenka made the first move to consolidate her shutout with a break of Alexandrova. It gave her such confidence and boost over her opponent that she went on to control things on serve in the 12th that gave her the first in just under an hour’s time. 

Azarenka faced 20 winners from her opponent across the court, but her limiting of unforced errors from her end assisted in staying minimal with mistakes and well-rounded overall to be out front. The Russian had a battle on her hands at the start of the second with her service game under fire. She managed to overcome the deficit, save breakpoints, force deuce, and save a third before holding the game. 

Azarenka was on a mission to pick up where she left off, comfortably putting the second game away on serve. She backed it up with a break of Alexandrova in the third but watched her opponent break back. They went four games in this direction with the Russian getting back on track by consolidated the sixth game with a hold in the seventh. Alexandrova had Azarenka down with a double break achieved and with a big accomplishment, but the second set to be in 37 minutes. Despite having two double faults and a first-serve percentage under 60, the Russian managed to keep the unforced errors to winners ratio close to force a deciding set. “I lost a bit of control in the set,” Azarenka said. “I didn’t play the right moments really accurately and she took advantage of that.” 

Azarenka was first to act, but the adversity was still there from Alexandrova. She backed up her hold of serve with a break to show that she was invested in taking this match by some means. The Russian came back in the third to get on the board, allowing the 12th seed one point. She blew things in the fourth, double-faulting against the 31-year-old that gave her a break to love. She delivered a big hold against the 26-year-old, who forced deuce but didn’t have the leverage to take control of the pace. 

With a 4-1 stand over her opponent, Azarenka dominated Alexandrova on serve in the sixth to break her and serve for the match. With a six-point streak in place, the Belorussian rallied to three match points and shutout Alexandrova in two hours and three minutes. “In the third, I stayed a bit more aggressive and a bit calmer and it was a bit tough because I haven’t played a lot of matches this year so it’s difficult to get into the rhythm and I’ll try to do that better in the next round.”