Victoria Azarenka stormed into the third round of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships with an emphatic 6-3, 6-3 win over Elena Vesnina on Wednesday. The WTA Tour’s most famous mother put forth an extreme masterclass, dominating the 15th-seeded Vesnina right from the get-go and finishing the match in just one hour and 39 minutes. She outhit Vesnina in the winners department, 24-15. In this tournament thus far, Pliskova is averaging a whopping 24.5 winners per match.
Next up for Azarenka is a round-of-32 clash with hometown favorite Heather Watson. Azarenka will fancy her chances in this third-round clash as she has fared extremely well against Watson in the past. The Belarusian has won each of her past four meetings with Watson. One of Azarenka’s victories came on grass with the two-time Australian Open champion destroying Watson, 6-1, 6-1, at Eastbourne in 2010. It’s paramount for Azarenka that she gets her first-serve going in this matchup. She won 87 percent of her first serve points in the win against Vesnina.
The dream lives on for Heather Watson. The British No. 2 moved into the third round of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships with a resounding 6-0, 6-4 win over Anastasija Sevastova on Wednesday. It was a fantastic performance by Watson who needed just 61 minutes to record the straight-sets victory. With the win, Watson reached the last 32 at the All England Club for the third time in her career.
Providing the impetus for Watson’s victory was her excellent return. She won 62 percent of her receiving points against Sevastova with the Guernsey native converting six of her eight break point chances. In this tournament thus far, Watson has converted nine of her 15 break point opportunities for an incredible 60 percent success rate. She will need that same kind of performance against Azarenka who blasted eight aces in her win against Vesnina.
Watson will start as the underdog against the former world no. 1, but the British wildcard could beat Azarenka if she maintains the excellence that saw her deliver 19 winners against Sevastova. Watson has been in fine form of late, winning over four players in the top 25 since the start of Eastbourne last week.
