Victoria Azarenka survives a three setter against Camila Giorgi at Australian Open.

Victoria Azarenka worked hard during her first round match at the Australian Open. 

Camila Giorgi pushed round one to three sets but went down at the hands of Victoria Azarenka at the Australian Open. The 18th seed breathed a sigh of relief in an up-and-down battle at Margaret Court Arena winning 6-1, 4-6, 6-3. The loss for the Italian snapped her streak of five first-round wins at Melbourne Park.  

The two met for the fifth time and the first since Miami where the former world number one handled the match swiftly. The Italian last defeated someone highly ranked as Azarenka in the 2015 edition and hoped to not drop a first-rounder in Melbourne since 2017. The 34-year-old did well in Brisbane, making it to the semifinal which set her up for another comfortable run at the slam. With the series tied, and the 18th seed holding a streak against Giorgi, she had a chance to jump off the blocks right.

The Italian was first to act and served well to open the scoring, but Azarenka drew easy errors and aced it to serve to love. In the third, the 18th seed anted up with a break to love of Giorgi making a statement and the lead. Azarenka blew a third shutout of Giorgi in the fourth game but landed an ace to end it. The 34-year-old ran off to a 4-1 score, drawing further errors from the Italian, who struggled to dig in.

Giorgi threatened Azarenka’s service in the sixth game, but a force of deuce from the 18th seed helped her reel the momentum in and make it 5-1 to her end. Giorgi’s first serve continued to have issues, gifting set point to Azarenka, who got it on a double fault from the Italian. It was a 31-minute rush for the 34-year-old, who scored 90 percent of first-serve points, while her opponent had 16 unforced errors.

Giorgi got another good start to open the second set, breaking her opponent. The 18th seed answered with a break back and consolidated in the third, putting a halt on the break opportunity for the 32-year-old in the third. The Italian fought hard to secure service in the fourth, leveling the score but also giving her offense life to challenge the former world number one.

Azarenka changed things up by notching her third shutout of the match on Giorgi. The Italian had enough of being blanked and built together another service hold to keep Azarenka in reach. She went after the 18th seed in the seventh, hunting down chances for the AD point on deuce. Two breaks went the way of Azarenka, who drew an error to take the lead back. Giorgi added another big hold of serve to remain even with the 34-year-old as they reached the business end of the second.

Giorgi put herself in a good position, running well with the momentum while rushing Azarenka to falter on serve. A double fault handed the Italian a 5-4 lead to serve for the set and bring in a third. She had Azarenka on the ropes in the tenth game, but a long return brought up deuce which went Giorgi’s way to send them to a decider and a break from the heat. It was a 53-minute success for the Italian, who improved on points from the first serve while forcing errors from Azarenka. With the pace of play to Giorgi’s advantage, she had every chance to pull off an upset of the two-time champ.

Azarenka refused to allow her opponent to take another opening game and hold serve to start the deciding set. She forced deuce on Giorgi’s service and played five deuces before the Italian held on.  It was the only win she saw for the next three games as the 18th seed held strong and battled for the break. The 34-year-old swept through the fifth and watched Giorgi tie a service game to her name.

Azarenka scored a great hold to deny any surge from the Italian and pressure her to stagger while facing defeat. The 18th seed played the returns smartly, drawing errors from Giorgi, who faced two match points. Two crosscourt winner returns forced deuce, followed by drawn errors from Azarenka to extend play. New balls were in hand for the 34-year-old, who double-faulted on serve for the match.

The 18th seed got aggressive, smashing the open court and double-faulting again. The score went to deuce while Azarenka went to the towel to slow things down and gain match point. A seventh double fault and third of the game went to Azarenka, who soon gained a fourth match point attempt. She got the serve in and forced Giorgi to err the ball wide, getting out of trouble in a 2-hour and 28-minute fight.