Victoria Azarenka playing in her first round match at the BNL Internazionali D'Italia.
Victoria Azarenka came from a disastrous second set to be victorious at the BNL Internazionali D’Italia on Friday. The former world number one committed nine double faults and needed six match points to beat Magda Linette 6-7(5), 6-4. 6-3 on Court 12 at the Foro Italico. It marked the third straight match the two players went the distance.
The two veterans met for the sixth time and the first to come on clay. The 34-year-old didn’t have things go well in Madrid, suffering a straight sets loss to Sorribes-Tormo in the second round. Despite her early success on the green courts of Charleston, Azarenka’s 14th entry into the open makes her ready as always to compete. The Pole managed great control in her straight sets win against Zhu, opening the door to potentially leveling the series with the former world number one.
Linette opened the scoring, holding Azarenka to a point on serve. The 24th seed was forced to deuce in her service game but denied her opponent a break chance. She turned things around, breaking Linette on serve in the third, but three more breaks of serve occurred thereafter. By the seventh, the 32-year-old notched her second service hold, taking the lead near the business end of the set.
Azarenka managed to follow suit in the eighth and break Linette for the lead, setting herself up for a chance at the set. Double faults continued to be a problem for the 34-year-old, opening the door for Linette to counter. The Pole took advantage of the breakpoint chances and scored the key to level at five-all. Linette gained an important hold of serve in the 11th, waiting for the other shoe to drop and take the set. Azarenka tightened up her forehand serves and aggressively took the shots to her opponent.
It was the best output of the match that took her into a first-set tiebreak with the 32-year-old. The two traded off six points to start the competition until Linette dug deep to take control. Her shots got the best of Azarenka, who struggled to rally back from tough moments and the crowd working against her. The 32-year-old bested the 24th seed, taking the set in one hour and nine minutes. The biggest difference maker was the shocking seven double faults that Azarenka racked up in the opening set. Despite having a better output of first-serve points won, the service of the 24th seed proved devastating.
It didn’t get better for the 34-year-old, who notched her eighth but held the opening game of the second set. Linette pulled off a shutout in the second and watched Azarenka mark her ninth double fault of the match in the third. The Pole took advantage of the mistake and broke Azarenka for the early lead.
The 24th seed broke back and stayed in touch with Linette to the eighth game. The problems with the serve smoothed out enough for her to take the lead in the ninth and force Linette further into the match. A push against the Polish veteran in the tenth gave Azarenka the momentum to break the 32-year-old and take the second set after 49 minutes on the court. Linette took a medical timeout to deal with a blister she got on the right hand during the sit-down.
Once the MTO was complete, the players got into the deciding set with Azarenka leading the way from her serve to love. Linette struggled to get her serve locked down in the second, going a break with Azarenka before clinching it. The 34-year-old notched a second service game and watched her opponent completely fall apart in the fourth. It was there that Linette committed three double faults on serve. An error handed Azarenka the break, who took care of business in the fifth on serve.
The 24th seed captured the double break on the Pole, who was out of sorts from the amazing performance she had earlier. With the Polish veteran all but out of the competition, Azarenka took her comfort and played out the points until she achieved match point on a ball landing long from Linette. An error from the 34-year-old brought the score to deuce where Linette saved three match points. Azarenka blew a fourth match point and after five breaks to deuce, Linette went on to take the game away for the break.
The Polish star held serve in the eighth but Azarenka was through letting opportunities slip away. She jumped to a fifth match point on a bad error from Linette but suffered another setback. Azarenka was relieved when a shot from Linette barely landed wide of the baseline, giving her the win that did not come easy after 2 hours and 51 minutes.
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