In a thrilling second-round match at the WTA 1000 event, the third-seeded Frenchwoman, Caroline Garcia, displayed remarkable resilience as she saved two match points to secure a come-from-behind victory over her opponent, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, with a final scoreline of 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4. Prior to this match, Garcia had maintained a perfect 5-0 record against Sasnovich since their initial encounter in 2017. However, her streak was seriously threatened as Sasnovich, ranked World No. 89, served for the win at 6-4, 6-5.
Despite committing a notable 85 unforced errors during the intense 2-hour and 45-minute match, Garcia remained positive. She struggled to adapt to the high-altitude conditions in her first match of the week but managed to clean up her game in the third set. Garcia’s turning point came when she saved a break point in her first service game and then secured the crucial break of Sasnovich’s serve at love, leveling the score at 3-3.
“We saw a few forehands directly in the wall behind [the court],” Garcia joked afterwards, “but it is what it is!”
“I’m very happy and very pleased with the way I managed to fight at the end of the second set,” she continued. “I lost a little bit my serve at the end of the first set and the beginning of the second set, but I managed to come back. It’s a great win, and I definitely need wins.”
Garcia’s victory propels her into the third round, where she is set to face American Hailey Baptiste. Baptiste also saved a match point in her second-round upset of No. 16 seed Karolina Pliskova just the day before. In the same quarter of the draw, former World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka advanced to the Round of 16 with a hard-fought 6-4, 7-6(5) triumph over Dayana Yastremska.
“I had to adapt and fight, and that’s how I got the win,” Azarenka stated on court after her victory.
The No.10 seed, Azarenka, found herself in a tight spot when she had to fend off two set points at 5-4 in the second set to prevent the match from extending to a third set. The two-time Australian Open champion displayed her resilience and managed to escape that precarious situation, eventually clinching the second-set tiebreak after 2 hours and 9 minutes of intense play. Azarenka, who reached the Guadalajara Open AKRON semifinals the previous year, is now set to face No.7 seed Veronika Kudermetova in the quest for a spot in this year’s quarterfinals. Kudermetova has previously won both of their encounters, including a match earlier this season in Adelaide.
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