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Victoria Azarenka let the match slip away from her at the Mallorca Open Tuesday afternoon. A close competition with sixth-seeded Caroline Garcia ended with her making enough mistakes to allow the French star a victory in three sets 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 on Pista Central at the Santa Ponza Country Club.
This was the third time and the second this season that the two opponents met. Garcia took down Azarenka back in Miami in the second round bringing her a second victory over the former world number one. The 29-year-old has done well in Mallorca making it to the round of 16 in consecutive years. Garcia carried a serious advantage as a 2016 winner and coming off a tournament win at Nottingham gave her a lot of momentum.
The exact opposite occurred for Garcia as she struggled on serve that led to Azarenka clinching the early break. She built upon the first win of the set and held in the second before scoring the double break. Azarenka was able to stay comfortable on serve taking the fourth that opened a wide gap on the French star. Garcia found a way to get on the board positioning herself near the net that assisted in defeating Azarenka in the fifth.
With the shutout repulsed, Garcia had a chance to climb back with added pressure to her opponent. The two went to deuce for a couple of breaks but the victory remained in the hands of the 29-year-old who played against a fatigued Garcia for the set. She struggled to keep the ball inside the court putting too much on her shots during the rally that gave Azarenka free points. She reached two set points where another error finished the set in 29 minutes. Despite the four double faults and six unforced errors, the Belorussian’s ability to outscore the sixth seed 29-17 was enough to have the edge going into the second.
Garcia wouldn’t let that be the case as a surge of power arrived in time to change the course of the match. It started with her breaking Azarenka in the first gaining break point opportunities for the early win. She added a strong service hold in the second before being denied a chance at the double. The Belorussian’s serve to love was a key point to get into the set but the loss earlier on handed Garcia a gap to run with.
She held in the fourth for a 3-1 score before the sixth seed found a way to produce another break. With three games separating Garcia from Azarenka, the opportunity to force a decider was alive and well for the French number one. The 29-year-old got one of the breaks back to sit two games down right before she held to love that put her on a short winning streak. Azarenka gained a double break that levelled her at four-all but a break back for the Frenchwoman killed her chance for a straight sets win.
Garcia’s fight to secure the break made it easy for her to score a serve to love that forced a decider to complete 39 minutes. The sixth seed made four aces and 13 winners that put a beating on Azarenka to falter enough and be forced to play on. It did the damage to see her double fault twice and end the second set frustrated. During the set break, Azarenka called down Wim Fissette and expressed her frustrations with some real vulgarity about not being able to see the ball from her end.
She had to brush it off and focus into the third where real improvements took place. A serve to love opened scoring in the third which Garcia had no problem doing. She added some challenges to her opponent in the third but it didn’t result in a break. Azarenka closed off a break chance from Garcia and went on to hold after a break on deuce. Paying her back in the fourth resulted in a 3-1 break for Azarenka opening up three set points to work with. She got it done on the AD point.
Garcia managed to break back with a stronger push in the fifth before getting a key service hold that levelled them at three-all. Azarenka returned to serve in the seventh that set them on a pace to keep one another from breaking with the match within reach for both. Azarenka was first to act with a service hold to play for a shot at the match. Garcia wasn’t ready to end her day on court and put together a hold to force more tennis from the two.
The sixth seed made a move to get the lead and press hard for a shot at the match. Breaking Azarenka was made possible by drawn errors from the Belorussian to sit up 6-5 and play for a shot at the second round. Garcia coasted to victory with three match points that ended with a low ball hit from the 29-year-old ending the match in two hours.
With a tough competition out of the way, the French number one moves into the second round facing the winner between Alison Riske and Paula Badosa.
