Victoria Azarenka survives Cornet scare at French Open

World no. 3 Victoria Azarenka was made to toil by 31st seed Alizé Cornet of France. However, she emerged as the ultimate winner, in a match which lasted for an hour and 42 minutes, to advance to the fourth round of the prestigious French Open 2013.

The 23-year-old from France initially opted for attacking tactics which helped her open up a 2-0 lead in the first set. The lead was maintained throughout and Cornet eventually went on to take the first set, 6-4, in 54 minutes.

After a surprise in the opening set, Victoria Azarenka didn’t lack confidence as she broke her opponent’s serve straight away. She made minimal unforced errors and piled on many winners which helped her grab the second set, 6-3, in 50 minutes.

With the match being thrown into the decider, Alizé Cornet, who had won the WTA event in Strasbourg earlier this year, broke Azarenka at the start, but failed to hold on her serve right after as the scoreline read 1-1. Azarenka, then, came back strong to hold her serve and broke Cornet’s serve twice thereafter to clinch the set, 6-1, in 38 minutes and eventually won the match 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Victoria Azarenka, who won the Australian Open and also a WTA event in Doha earlier this year, did make a few mistakes by committing 10 double faults, but 41 winners and just 31 unforced errors were enough to cover up those negligible mistakes.

Tough luck for Alizé Cornet, who fought her heart out against the no. 3 seed of the tournament.