WHAT HAPPENED: It was the kind of match the revamped Louis Armstrong Stadium was built for: gladitorial tennis in a bowl consumed by a cacophony coming from open concourses on all sides, as much rock concert as tennis match. Aryna Sabalenka and Victoria Azarenka played their parts perfectly, unloading some of the biggest weaponry in women’s tennis over an unrelenting two hours, each of them at one point literally knocking the opponent off her feet. Sabalenka was the last one standing after coming back from a set and a break down to win, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Both Belarusians looked like each other, dressed in identical Nike kits, down to their headbands and wristbands. More important, though, they each resembled their old selves. Azarenka played some of her best tennis since she was ranked No. 1 in the world and made two US Open finals (2012-13), and Sabalenka summoned the same destructive form that made her the hottest player of last fall, when she rocketed into the Top 10 by winning three titles and going 28-5 in the last half of the season and the start of 2019.
Sabalenka cooled off this year, losing early in all three Grand Slams. After Azarenka went up a set and 2-0, it looked like 21-year-old's woes would continue. Then she raised her level and began land more serves close to 120 miles per hour.
“I was out of the game, and in one moment, I think, 'Well, there’s nothing to lose right now,'” she said on court after the match.
Azarenka traded blows with her younger countrywoman, and both thrilled the crowd with screaming ground-stroke winners from all parts of the court. In the last game of the second set, Sabalenka smothered the court and rattled off five explosive winners to close it out.
The quality remained gripping throughout the third set, becoming as close to a contact sport as a tennis match can be. Azarenka drew first blood with a break for 2-1, then Sabalenka broke right back. The shots somehow got even bigger until the fifth game, tied at 2-all, when first Sabalenka’s shot knocked Azarenka to the ground, then the former No. 1 answered by taking Sabalenka off her feet at the baseline.
Sabalenka fought off two break points in that game, and finally got the last break at 4-all and served out the match—one that felt like the title could have been on the line, not merely a spot in the second round.
WHAT IT MEANS: Both players have enjoyed success at the US Open in the past, but it was Sabalenka who wrote another winning chapter on this night.
Azarenka is a two-time Flushing finalist, having lost to Serena Williams in three sets on both occasions. Sabalenka had the best major run of her young career here in 2018, when she was the only woman to take a set off eventual champion Naomi Osaka—after losing to Osaka, 6-4 in the third, last year on Armstrong, she flipped that result on the same court tonight.
Sabalenka admittedly struggled to deal with the added pressure of being a Top-10 player earlier in this year. Seeded ninth in New York but now ranked No. 13 (after her WTA ranking points from her 2018 New Haven title came off the books), Sabalenka first cracked the Top 10 in January, soon after winning the third title of her career in Shenzhen.
She spoke about a new mentality after Wimbledon, but after reaching the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic final to start the 2019 US Open Series, she has now suffered an opening-round loss at both Rogers Cup and the US Open, sandwiching a Round-of-16 run at the Western & Southern Open.
Azarenka, one of four mothers who entered the US Open singles main draw (along with Serena Williams, Tatjana Maria, and Mandy Minella), saw her undefeated record in the first round of Grand Slams ended on the night.
MATCH POINT: This was the first meeting between two Belarusian players in a Grand Slam main draw since Belarus became an independent country, according to the WTA.
Both women have played for the Belarus Fed Cup team, Azarenka eight times and Sabalenka four times. They competed on the same squad once, in a 2016 World Group playoff win against Russia.
The first-round opponents were joined in the 2019 US Open women's singles field by a third countrywoman, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, who defeated American Jennifer Brady in Round 1 on Monday.
