Australian Open: Azarenka of old has reached the semifinals after 10 years

Victoria Azarenka conceded just 5 games against Jessica Pegula in the impressive game 6-4, 6-1 Returning to the semi-finals of the Australian Open after 2013!

The Belarusian played excellent tennis, especially in the 2nd set, and closed Pegula, giving her only 5 games, ending the game after 100 minutes and qualifying for the semifinals after 2013.

This was Azarenka’s 9th Grand Slam semi-final appearance after two in Melbourne (2012, 2013), one at Roland Garros (2013), two at Wimbledon (2011, 2012) and three at the US Open (2012, 2013, 2020).

The Belarusian blew away Pegula, who was terrible with 50% points on 1st serve and 38% on 2nd serve. Azarenka took advantage of this fact, starting the quarter-finals with a break and winning the first three games 3-0.

In fact, she had 5 break chances in Pegula’s next service game, which could still be reduced to 3:1.

The Belarusian took a 5-3 lead but also had the balls in hand to end the set after initially wasting two set points on Pegula’s serve. The American responded with a break, erasing two more set points from the Belarusian and reducing to 5-4.

However, Pegula couldn’t redeem the break and equalized 5-5, while Azarenka scored another break to make it 1-0 in the quarterfinals.

In the second set, Azarenka started again with a break (2:0), Pegula answered, but the Belarusian broke the American’s serve again and led to 3:1.

However, this was also Pegula’s last game to be won in Melbourne, with Azarenka winning the next three games to qualify for the 4th after 10 years.

There she meets Rybakina, with whom Jelena Ostapenko was previously defeated 6-2, 6-4.

SOURCE: Tennis24