Iga Swiatek clenches her first during her match with Victoria Azarenka at the Adelaide International
Iga Swiatek got sweet revenge while keeping her title defense alive at the Adelaide International Friday night. The Pole, who lost devastatingly at the US Open last season, went three sets with Victoria Azarenka to beat her 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 on Center Court at the Memorial Drive Tennis Center.
The Belorussian faced Swiatek for the second time, hoping that she would gain another victory like she did in their US Open third round, where she won 6-4, 6-2. Getting another would not only make it a second victory but also kill Swiatek’s chances to clinch a second consecutive title in Adelaide. Both won their first two matches this season in straight sets, but knew that challenges stood right in front of them.
The two opened the match with comfortable holds, but by the fourth game, with Swiatek in the lead, she managed to break Azarenka only to be broken back. Her one-game margin didn’t last long when the Belorussian made it three-all, but after a hold from the 20-year-old, she scored a break in the eighth and never looked back. Taking the set in 43 minutes, Swiatek remained solid while her opponent had two double faults and a bad return game.
In the second, it was Azarenka finding her time to conduct business. She blanked Swiatek in her opening service and bided her time to strike big. After taking a 2-1 lead with the hold of serve, Azarenka jumped to a 40-0 lead, let a point slip, and scored her second break of the world number nine. She put three games between the two of them after the fifth and kept her behind till she had the set at 6-2 that took 39 minutes. Despite committing her third double fault of the match, the Belorussian did much better on the return side, silencing Swiatek’s overall offense.
The Pole brushed it off and went back to work in the decider where she took control with a break of the 32-year-old. She had the double break just before she made it 4-0 and never looked back at the world number 27. By the time she got on the board with a victory in the fifth, Swiatek avoided losing on deuce during her service and held her opponent down against the serve, and won it all on her second match point. It nearly went two hours, but for Swiatek, the victory was sweet revenge, while maintaining her title defense.
“Winning against such an experience played is still pretty new for me,” she said after the match. “That was my third match where I actually could show what I practiced during the preseason. That’s really satisfying because I had this problem last year where I was practicing really great and I felt like I could do more on matches. This time it’s different. It’s actually going my way, so I’m pretty happy about that.”
She would look forward to seeing if happiness was behind world number one Ashleigh Barty, who stood between her and a second straight final.
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