A resurgent Victoria Azarenka has now beaten both Williams sisters in the space of 7 days across two different tournaments.
The US Open finalist edged Venus Williams in a battle between former World No.1 players and Grand Slams champion 7-6(7), 6-2, to become the final first-round winner of the 2020 Italian Open.
The Belarusian shoved the 6-2 head-to-head advantage Williams held over her to one side as she continues her impressive comeback at the age 31.
Azarenka who was a finalist in 2013 at the same event had fallen to Williams last month in their most recent meeting at the Lexington Open and has since gone on to accumulate an 11-match winning streak at the Western & Southern Open, which was only ended by Naomi Osaka in the US Open final.
Watch the match highlights below
“Different surface was definitely challenging, but I feel like I adapted very well,” Azarenka says, in her post-match press conference. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, I knew I wasn’t going to play a perfect game today, but it was all about trying to find the right intention of what to do today. I think it worked out okay.”
“I felt that this was a great match for me to figure it out, the first match on clay,” Azarenka adds. “Venus played a really good match, it was good to see her also adapting to clay, changing and trying different shots. So, I’m pretty happy.”
Azarenka will now face the third seed Sofia Kenin in the next round.
US Open 2020: Naomi Osaka wins second US Open title after beating Azarenka in final
Other Italian Open results
Elina Svitolina returned to winning ways with a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the WTA Tour.
The fourth seed saved seven of the 10 break points she faced and spent an hour and 45 minutes on court dispatching her opponent.
Svitolina will face either Anett Kontaveit or Svetlana Kuznetsova next.
The top seed Simona Halep overcame wild card Jasmine Paolini 6-3 6-4.
The 28-year-old Wimbledon champion who had only lost twice this year found herself a break down in both sets but recovered then sealed her first victory since winning the Prague Open a month ago.
Also, defending champion Karolina Pliskova beat fellow Czech Barbora Strycova 6-3 6-3. She hit 26 winners as she overpowered her opponent from the back, and was content with her work.
“It was not an easy job, but I thought I played quite good today,” Pliskova said to the WTA’s website after.
“I was feeling the ball, I was serving quite well, and in the important moments I just went for it. So it paid off.”
Thursday’s order of play features Coca Gauff facing Garbine Muguruza while Johanna Konta will start her campaign against Irina-Camelia Begu.
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