Azarenka flies to win maiden Citi Open match

Victoria Azarenka was all smiles after her first match since May, defeating Dayana Yastremska at the Citi Open Tuesday. 

Victoria Azarenka opened her first visit to the Citi Open with a landslide victory Tuesday afternoon. The fourth seed kept her composure and an offense that defeated Dayana Yastremska 6-4, 6-0 on John Harris Court at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center. The Ukrainian left herself no chance to come back with seven double faults and 42 unforced errors that ended the scoring gap by 24 points.

The two met in Toronto in 2019, where the young Ukrainian etched her first win against the former world number one. In five of the last six tournaments played, Yastremska hasn’t made it out of the first round. She hasn’t made an impact during any US run but felt that her time might come in the nation’s capital.

Azarenka wasn’t allowed to play at Wimbledon and decided to focus on her hard court favoritism and skip the entirety of grass court action. It was her first visit to Washington DC, and the first match played since May. The 33-year-old was ready for a strong start just two weeks before going to the Western and Southern Open.

She was gifted an easy reception by Yastremska, who erred early during her service. She nearly gave Azarenka a break to love, but two long balls from the fourth seed put her halfway from deuce. The Ukrainian earned a chance to secure the service, but a double fault handed the 33-year-old the lead. She consolidated the break with ease on serve, but couldn’t score the double break on the 22-year-old.

Yastremska was happy to get into play on the court and move alongside Azarenka, who had a 3-1 lead. The Ukrainian notched another hold of serve in the fifth before opening the sixth with a break to love chance. The fourth seed had a lot of trouble on serve but somehow climbed back to deuce. They played three breaks where on the fourth breakpoint chance for the Ukrainian, a huge effort from her leveled the score at three each.

Azarenka pushed hard to break Yastremska for the lead back, but the Ukrainian kept it level with a break back. She wanted to be in front for the first time in the set, but the fourth seed wouldn’t have it. Azarenka forced deuce, gaining the breakpoint in turn. It was another double fault from Yastremska that handed the 33-year-old the double break.

With her chance to serve for the set, the fourth seed forced errors from the Ukrainian, reaching set point at 40-30. A long ball brought the 22-year-old to deuce, but the leverage remained with her opponent. Azarenka forced one final error off the Ukrainian to put the set to rest in 52 minutes. Both players combined for seven double faults, but winning points from the service was in favor of the fourth seed, who notched 68 percent from the first serve and won four of six breakpoints.

The fourth seed waited for Yastremska to return from a bathroom break, and when she did, the 33-year-old broke her to love. Azarenka backed up the break, with a service hold, and broke the 22-year-old again in the third. Through the next two games, it was Azarenka’s show on the court, taking a commanding 5-0 run while Yastremska added her seventh double fault in turn. Serving for the match, the fourth seed coasted to victory, with the Ukrainian out of sorts. Azarenka watched her opponent hit one at the net and watched it land behind the baseline ending 1 hour and 27 minutes.

After a great output in front of a new crowd, the 33-year-old looked forward to her next match against the winner between Tereza Martincova and Xinyu Wang in the round of 16.