Azarenka Wins Clash With Wozniacki in Rome

May 13, 2015 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Photo credit: Adam Wolfthal

Victoria Azarenka outlasted Caroline Wozniacki in a second round matchup at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome on Wednesday, defeating the fifth-seeded Dane 6-2, 7-6(2).

Azarenka entered Wednesday’s contest with wins in her two previous matches this year against Wozniacki, and looked as if she would take this one easily early on. She cruised through the first set 6-2 and got the early break advantage to go up 2-1 in the second.

But Wozniacki fought back, winning four of the next five games to jump ahead 5-3 and looked to be on the verge of forcing a deciding third set.

Azarenka immediately responded and won three straight games to go ahead 6-5 with a chance to serve out the match. Even with four match point opportunities though, she was unable to wrap things up, and saw Wozniacki break back to force a tie-breaker.

Despite the momentum seemingly being with Wozniacki, Azarenka ran away with the tie-breaker, winning it 7-2 to close out the straight set victory.

“There are never too many surprises out there, for either of us,” Azarenka. “We’ve played so many times now, and this year too, and she’s always a tough opponent. It had been a while since we played on clay, so I knew I had to step up my game and try to do my best.”

The win puts Azarenka in a third-round matchup with Romanian Irina Camelia-Begu who ousted ninth-seeded German Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-3.

Eugenie Bouchard got back on the winning track on Wednesday, snapping a six-match losing streak by defeating Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas 6-3, 6-4.

The sixth-seeded Canadian will meet 10th-seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez-Navarro in the third-round. Suarez-Navarro rolled past Britain’s Heather Watson 6-1, 6-1.

American Christina McHale scored an upset over 13th seed Sara Errani, beating the Italian 6-4, 6-4 to reach the third-round. McHale broke three times in the second set to make up for a struggling serve.

McHale will play her compatriot, the top-seeded Serena Williams in the next round.

Daria Gavrilova came back from a set down to knock off seventh-seeded Serb Ana Ivanovic 5-7, 7-6(2), 7-6(7). The Russian will play Timea Bascinszky next.

Venus Williams secured an early break in the first set and broke a couple more times in the second set to tame Elina Svitolina and advance with a 6-4, 6-3 win. The 14th seed Williams will take on second-seeded Romanian Simona Halep in the third-round.

Halep cruised past American Alison Riske 6-3, 6-0 on Wednesday.

15th seeded American Madison Keys saw her Rome tournament come to an end as well, falling to Bojana Jovanovski. The Serb hung on to beat Keys 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 to move on and play third-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova.

Other winners on Wednesday included eighth-seeded Ekaterina Makarova and Alexandra Dulgheru. 

 


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Pointset
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