Victoria Azarenka survived Mona Barthels 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 in her opening match in a performance that was significantly below the form, she has shown in most of her 18-match winning streak. Her serve was way off, her backhand was spotty, her defense was so-so and even when the talented yet inexperienced German wanted to seem to hand her the match, she sputtered.
For the first time this season, Azarenka was really there for taking and if she had been playing against a top 10 player or a savvy veteran, she likely would have went down, but she gutted it out and showed once again how much she has matured.
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