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It was a fight both couldn’t win at such a late hour but with a final push Karolina Pliskova came out victorious at the Mutua Madrid Open early Tuesday morning.
In what turned into a topsy-turvy match, ended with a final hold from the world number six breaking Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 1-6, 7-5 on Manolo Santana Court at La Caja Magica. It was her second win over the former number one and just another step into the third round.
This matchup became the fifth in their career series with Azarenka leading the way with a recent win in Miami against the Czech. While Pliskova has a history of struggling on the red clay, she put together a huge feat winning the Porsche GP last week and came out guns blazing against Elena Vesnina Saturday.
It gave the world number six her sixth match wins in a row with the hope of getting seven while ending the losing streak against the Belorussian.
She came out hot against Azarenka breaking her before consolidating her service. The Belorussian got on the board in the third but remained two games down after four. The sixth seed pulled off two shutouts on serve through six maintaining her marginal lead on Azarenka.
The third break for Pliskova allowed her to control the endgame and capture the set on her terms in half an hour. The ten winners made took a toll on Azarenka’s second serve that managed 50 percent of shots. The performance was clearly frustrating the 28-year-old who had to find a way to change the tide of control.
She did just that as the world number six lost all her energy and power to give her opponent the chance needed to attack. Azarenka was running on a one-way street taking each game swiftly and freely as Pliskova began to make serious errors including four double faults.
Both serves were under 50 percent and had more than 20 errors making it easy for the Belorussian to gain a 5-0 lead. The Czech got some offense back on the court but it wasn’t enough as the former number one rallied on serve in the seventh, striking back to close out the second and force a third after 32 minutes.
As the third set got underway, Pliskova found an opportunity to turn things around and strike well on her serve. She then broke Azarenka who then struck her racket to the surface breaking it in turn.
Finding herself in a 0-3 hole, Azarenka put in a lot of effort on serve in the fourth to save deuce and gain chances at the AD point. The problem became closing on the opportunity as she got into rallies while on game point but watched it land out. After nearly 13 minutes and eight breaks later, the Belorussian won to bring an end to Pliskova’s shutout.
A second victory came the way of the 28-year-old who once again fought to break Pliskova and sit a game from leveling the final set. The match was on as Azarenka got even with the Czech powerhouse setting up a service hold for each of them spanning the next three games.
As the match crossed into midnight, the two players remained on serve where extra frames would be required thanks to Azarenka’s stunning serve to love in the tenth.
It was a tug of war for the hold and break of game 11 as Pliskova saved the game from ending in Azarenka’s hands and instead stretched it out. After six breaks and eight minutes elapsed in the game, the Czech star held to take the 6-5 hold pressuring Azarenka to falter at the match’s critical moment.
Pliskova earned the victory with a final shot on the break landing the line driver winner out of the Belorussian’s reach ending a long night in two hours and six minutes.
With such a fight into the late hours, the 26-year-old will enjoy a day off before facing Sloane Stephens Wednesday.
