Victoria Azarenka took another step towards winning a third Australian Open tennis title after advancing to the semi-finals of the tournament. Ten years after her last triumph in Melbourne, the tennis player from Belarus beat third-seeded Jessica Pegula (USA) by 2-0 (6:4, 6:1) in a quarter-final match that lasted an hour and 39 minutes.
The 33-year-old Victoria Azarenka, who is 24th-seeded, showed tennis from her best years and left no chance to Jessica Pegula, who was on an eight-match winning streak to zero since the beginning of the year.
The first set of the match was very interesting and contested. In it, Azarenka took a 3:0 lead and had six opportunities to win the fourth game as well, but Jessica Pegula won her serve. The American saved more break points, which were also set points, in the eighth game, and in the ninth she reflected two set points on her rival’s serve to return the break.
However, Jessica Pegula was never able to break even as she took just one point on her serve in the tenth game. This clearly completely shook the American and in the second set she was unrecognizable, allowing a break in each of her games.
“It’s hard to beat a player like Jessica Pegula. I knew I had to play my best game and take advantage of the opportunities I had. I’m proud of the way I executed my plan. It’s incredible to be in the semifinals of a tournament again from the Grand Slam. My tennis wasn’t very good last year, but mentally I was in shape. I wanted to play more aggressively and that’s something I worked on a lot during the preseason”, said Victoria Azarenka after the match.
In the semifinals, Victoria Azarenka will play versus Elena Rybakina (Kazahstan), who defeated Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) in two sets earlier today.
