Marcin Motyka
10 House 2024, 17:41
Getty Images / Robert Prange / In the photo: Magda Linette In the second round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome, Magda Linette had a difficult and prestigious task ahead of her. The Pole faced two-time Grand Slam champion and former world ranking leader, Victoria Azarenka. The Poznań native put up a great fight, but ultimately lost 7:6(5), 4:6, 3:6.
Seeded number 24, Azarenka from the beginning tried to push Linette into deep defense with powerful shots from deep inside the court. But the Pole defended herself bravely and was often able to counter effectively, delighting the Roman audience.
In the opening set, Linette made up for three break points and led to a tie break. In it, she showed maturity in decisive moments. From 3-3, she scored three points in a row, which gave her a set point. She missed her first two chances, but on the third one she sent a wonderful backhand down the line.
Furious after losing the tie break, Azarenka took a toilet break. After a while, her frustration became even greater, because she lost her application, and it was down to zero. Linette was then closer to victory, but she had to be careful because she certainly knew that her rival could make up for the losses.
And that’s exactly what happened. Azarenka turned negative emotions into a higher level of play. She limited the number of mistakes she made, started serving more effectively, and as a result, she eliminated the break loss, and then in the tenth game she broke Linette again and equalized the match.
Before the start of the third set, Linette requested a medical break due to an injury to her right hand. The injury clearly interfered with her actions on the court, because the next dozen or so minutes were like something out of a nightmare for her. The Poles had little success and lost five of the first six games. As a result, the result was 5:1 for Azarenka.
However, Linette wasn’t going to give up without a fight. She gritted her teeth, saved four match points, reduced the loss to 3:5, which increased the pressure on her opponent’s side. But Azarenka withstood the pressure. When she served for the win for the second time, her hand didn’t shake and she ended the match.
The match lasted two hours and 53 minutes. During this time, Linette served four aces, was broken seven times, converted five of eight break points and scored a total of 98 points, seven less than her opponent.
In the third round, on Sunday, Azarenka will face Mayar Sherif or Jasmine Paolini.
Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Rome (Italy)
WTA 1000, clay court, prize pool of EUR 4.791 million
Friday, May 10
2nd round of singles:
Wiktoria Azarenka (24) – Magda Linette (Poland) 6:7(5), 6:4, 6:3
Program and results of the women’s tournament
WATCH THE VIDEO: She became seriously ill. There were some disgusting comments
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