Victoria Azarenka lays on the pressure to make round of 16 at US Open

 

Victoria Azarenka works the forehand during her third round match with Petra Martic at the US Open 

Victoria Azarenka had too much for the competition to handle at the US Open Saturday. The three-time finalist of the tournament kept the heat on Petra Martic, who didn’t have the power to counter in a 6-3, 6-0 result on Louis Armstrong Stadium at the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center.

The fight for making the second week was on, and for Azarenka, getting deep was her constant mission at the open. Historically, the 26th seed has more success than any player left in the top half of the draw, giving her energy to bring back memories of her win against Martic. Though it was over a decade back, the former world number one dispatched the Croatian swiftly. After her recent win over Marta Kostyuk, the 33-year-old had her game in the right gear, hoping to have a better outcome to make it to the round of 16.

She opened the competition, holding Martic to a point before threatening in the second. The Croatian was forced to deuce on serve, but gaining the AD point was not meant for her. Sitting down a short deficit, Martic ran to break Azarenka and consolidated with a serve to love in the fourth. Martic tallied seven points in a row before the 33-year-old got into her serve to hold the fifth.

Azarenka rallied to three breakpoints in the sixth but watched her opponent fight back to force deuce. Refusing to give her an AD point, the 26th seed fought to keep her grip on the momentum and sit two games up. Azarenka achieved a serve to love in the seventh, sitting well to go for the break and the set.

Martic eyed keeping her service in check, but the challenge from the 33-year-old remained fierce. After two breaks, the Croatian held the pace to herself, making it 3-5. The former world number one served for the set in the ninth, fighting off Martic, who saved two set points but couldn’t stop Azarenka from shutting the first down in 44 minutes.

The 33-year-old had a perfect start to the second set, earning a break to love for the second time. Martic went after a break in the second but struggled to gain momentum against the former world number one. After three breaks, Azarenka held firm, indicating that the set was well in her hands. Martic felt the pressure after just two games, and on serve in the third, she didn’t have the power to counter the 33-year-old, who took the break by storm.

After successfully consolidating the serve in the fourth, Azarenka went for another break. Martic tried hard to hold her side of the court, but getting the AD point was a heavy task. The players went four breaks, with the 26th seed charging hard for the win. She finally got it on the final rally, watching a return from the Croatian land wide to make it 5-0. On serve for the match, Azarenka drew the errors from Martic to cruise through her service to love for the victory that took 1 hour and 21 minutes to complete.

"I felt that I played really well today," said Azarenka after the match. “I put my foot on the pedal today and never took it off.” Azarenka had 22 winners and a serve success at 73 percent. “She had a great game with a lot of variety so I knew I had to be the one in control and not to let her kind of move me around even though she did. Changing from defense to offense was I think a pretty good key today.” The 26th seed would need both sides of that to come on Monday facing the winner between Karolina Pliskova and Belinda Bencic.