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Victoria Azarenka overcame a very challenging start to the French Open to move into the second round on Tuesday. The Belarusian struggled with the first serve but found a way to lock down key points and defeat Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 7-6(4) on Court Simonne Mathieu at Roland Garros. The Latvian, who won the title in 2017, struggled on the day with 17 double faults and 60 unforced errors to go down.
This was the first meeting between the two European stars and one that was important for both as one played a good outcome of the clay court season while the other struggled. The former French Open champion lost five of her clay matches and barely got time to compete with the losses coming early in tournaments. Losing her grip on a surface she once dominated didn’t put her in a good spot against the Belarusian. Azarenka had good runs in Stuttgart and Rome to be prepared for the year’s second Slam.
She didn’t get the best start as two double faults occurred on serve, resulting in a quick victory for the Latvian. The 29-year-old recovered from her bad start and broke Ostapenko’s serve to stay in touch. They kept breaking one another through the next six games until Azarenka found a way to counteract. After committing three double faults through those games, she dug in well to hold serve in the ninth that gave her a big advantage.
Ostapenko was rattled, having nearly four times as many double faults as her opponent which ultimately cost her the set with the break going to Azarenka. The set was clearly one both wished to forget after it took 39 minutes to complete. Both suffered on their service games, scoring below 60 from both sides of the ball. The Latvian took the hardest hit of all, committing 27 unforced errors that she knew she would have to minimize going into the second.
She put on a stronger face in the second set, holding serve after the two-time Australian Open champion opened the set with her service. Gaining a break in the third was the key for the Latvian as her offense significantly improved. She consolidated it with a hold in the fourth that gave her a solid chance at forcing a decider. Azarenka ended Ostapenko’s winning ways and held the fifth to get closer to her opponent.
By the seventh, the margin was still a game for Ostapenko despite the double faults climbing back into her game. She let a third one occur in the eighth that helped Azarenka level at four apiece.
She managed to easily draw errors from Ostapenko before earning the serve to love with a return into the net from the Latvian. With the improvements from her game not effective anymore, the 21-year-old made a last-ditch effort to stay in the match. She fell behind on the score and couldn’t find a way to recover. Azarenka was gifted two match points but lost them both on errors to help the Latvian to force deuce.
She caught a break by gaining an AD point chance which helped her lock down the tenth due to an error from her opponent. The 11th got very tense as Azarenka had her chance to take the lead but erred to give Ostapenko another chance on deuce. After seven breaks and nearly 12 minutes of action, the 21-year-old made three a charm on break points to take the 6-5 lead and put pressure on Azarenka for a decider.
The Belarusian forced a key break from Ostapenko in the 12th to set up a tie-break opportunity that would give her the match if her offense pulled together at the right time. She got the first point with her second serve doing the heavy work in the late stages of the set. Ostapenko got her chance but double faulted for her 17th of the match. A second try got her on the board but errors still made it tough, conceding Azarenka a 3-1 lead.
She recovered the lost ground as rain began to fall on the court during such a critical moment. Azarenka caught a break, taking the next two points but saw the aggression in Ostapenko grow. She saw a chance to finish the Latvian's challenge after scoring a crosscourt winner that set up her third match point. It came on a final error into the net from the 21-year-old to end a very tense contest that took 1 hour and 45 minutes to finish.
Despite the struggles she suffered with the serve, Azarenka’s focus came in the clutch moments to get her through a match with her opponent not at her best. The former World No. 1 hoped to have a better outcome to prepare herself for a showdown with the current World No. 1 Naomi Osaka in the second round.
