WTA St. Petersburg: Victoria Azarenka sets Petra Kvitova clash
A former world no. 1 Victoria Azarenka has scored the first win in 2019 following a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Margarita Gasparyan in an hour and 30 minutes. Azarenka struggled to find the range with her forehand although she did enough to control the pace from the baseline, losing serve on three occasions but overcoming that deficit quickly with a rock solid performance on the return. She stole almost 60% of the points behind Gasparyan's serve, creating no less than 19 break points and converting seven to stay in front all the time for the first win since September.
They traded four breaks in the middle of the opening set and it was the Belarusian who had the upper hand in the closing stages with two good holds, breaking the Russian in game nine for a 6-4. Margarita was powerless on serve in set number two, suffering four breaks of serve to propel Vika into the second round where she will face the Australian Open runner-up Petra Kvitova. In the battle of the youngsters, Veronika Kudermetova took down Olga Danilovic 6-2, 6-1 in an hour and eight minutes after a stellar performance on both serve and return.
The Russian lost just 12 points on serve, fending off both break points to keep the pressure on an 18-year-old Serb who couldn't endure it, losing 55% of the points in her games and getting broken five times from 13 chances she gave to her rival. Veronika was off to a great start, finding the range right on and breaking Olga in games three and seven for a 6-2, rattling off the last 12 points and building the momentum before set number two. There, she won six games in a row to march towards the finish line and cement the triumph in the best possible way.
In one of the strangest matches of the season so far, the 6th seed Jelena Ostapenko defeated the struggling Kristina Mladenovic 6-1, 0-6, 6-0 in an hour and 22 minutes! Mladenovic earned three breaks in the second set to serve a bagel and make the best possible return into the match after a terrible start, only to lose ground once again and let Ostapenko fade in the distance after another one-sided set in the decider. The 5th seed Julia Goerges is safely through after a 6-2, 7-5 triumph over Maria Sakkari in quick 72 minutes. This was the third straight win for the German over the Greek, saving a set point at 3-5 in set number two to perform a great comeback and bring the win encounter home in straight sets.
Julia fends off two out of three break points and Maria was unable to follow that pace, losing serve four times and squandering that opportunity to clinch the second set in the moments when she played better than the higher-ranked rival. Goerges needed half an hour to secure the opener, barely losing a point on serve and breaking Sakkari in games four and eight for a 6-2. Maria raised her level in set number two, scoring an early break and losing one point in four service games to open up a 5-3 gap. Serving to stay in the set, Goerges saved a set point and she broke back in the tenth game to prolong the match and add some drama. Nonetheless, Julia held at love for a 6-5 and she sealed the deal with another break in game 12 that pushed her over the finish line.
First round results:
[WC]Victoria Azarenka (BLR) vs [Q]Margarita Gasparyan (RUS) 6-4 6-1 [LL]Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) vs [WC]Olga Danilovic (SRB) 6-2 6-1 [8]Donna Vekic (CRO) vs Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) 4-6 6-1 6-3 [5]Julia Goerges (GER) vs Maria Sakkari (GRE) 6-2 7-5 [Q]Tereza Martincova (CZE) vs Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) 4-6 6-2 6-2 [6]Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) vs Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) 6-1 0-6 6-0 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) vs Alize Cornet (FRA) 7-5 7-6(4) [Q]Ysaline Bonaventure (BEL) vs Katerina Siniakova (CZE) 6-4 7-6(3)
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2RYiJ2U
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