NEW YORK, NY, USA - No.5 seed Aryna Sabalenka and fellow Belarusian Victoria Azarenka will face off at the US Open for the second year in a row after securing their respective first round victories on Tuesday.
“Honestly, I would be really excited to have that challenge,” Azarenka told journalists after her straight sets win. “We had a really great match last year. It was really high quality. It didn't go my way. I feel like this year it's a great opportunity to kind of see where my level is at versus her level.
“It's going to be a great challenge. She's a great fighter. She's been showing great tennis. I'm really looking forward if that's going to be the matchup.”
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Sabalenka opened her Grand Slam campaign against the big-hitting Oceane Dodin of France, needing just over an hour and a half to edge through with a 7-6(1), 6-4 victory.
The Belarusian had made a strong start to the season before the six-month coronavirus pause, reaching the semifinals at the Adelaide International, quarterfinals at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, and lifted the trophy at the Qatar Total Open in Doha to cap it off. Sabalenka has struggled to find her form after the tour’s resumption, though, posting second-round exits at the Top Seed Open in Lexington and the Western & Southern Open.
Sabalenka was pushed to the limit in a grueling first set against Dodin, who was contesting her first US Open in three years after battling injury. The French player acquitted herself well as she kept pace with Sabalenka, but neither player was able to capitalize on the scarce break points on offer.
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Sabalenka held four set points deep in the first set as she looked to grab the first break of serve at 5-4, but Dodin fired them away as she sent them into a tiebreak. But when the big points came, it was Sabalenka who rose to the occasion, allowing her opponent just one point en route to closing it out, 7-6(1).
Dodin threatened to turn things around as she started the second set with a 2-0 after an early break. But Sabalenka righted the ship a game later as she broke straight back, and settled into her power-hitting game to claim the victory after a final break of serve at 5-4, winning 7-6(1), 6-4.
Earlier in the day, it was the Western & Southern Open champion Azarenka who kicked her own US Open run with a dominant 6-1, 6-2 victory over Barbara Haas.
At the start of last week, Azarenka had come into the relocated Premier 5 tournament without having won a match in exactly a year - by the end of the week, she had claimed her first title since 2016 and dropped just one set in the process.
She showed the same form against Haas on Tuesday, posting five unanswered games in both sets as she broke her opponent twice en route to a comfortable straight sets win.
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“I think I played a really good match. Started the match really, really well. I played against an opponent that I didn't know about. That was a good adjustment for me.
“After having to play Cincinnati, it's pretty quick turnaround. I haven't had this type of experience in a while, playing the week before a Grand Slam. But overall I didn't really have much tennis in the last months as everybody else.
“I think it was a good turnaround after a good week. It was good for me to start kind of where I left off and pick it up from there. Pretty happy with that.”
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Sabalenka and Azarenka advanced to face each other in the second round, a rematch of last year’s electric opening round battle at this same tournament. Azarenka will be looking to claim revenge after Sabalenka turned around a one set deficit to win, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
