US Open 2022: Victoria Azarenka vs Petra Martic preview, head-to-head, prediction, odds and pick
Match Details
Fixture: (26) Victoria Azarenka vs Petra Martic.
Date: September 3, 2022.
Tournament: US Open 2022.
Round: Third round (Round of 32).
Venue: New York, United States.
Category: Grand Slam.
Surface: Hard.
Prize money: $60,102,000.
Live telecast: USA - ESPN & ESPN2 | Canada - TSN | UK - Amazon Prime Video | India - Sony Liv, Sony Ten & Sony Six.
Victoria Azarenka vs Petra Martic preview
Two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka will face off against World No. 54 Petra Martic in the third round of the 2022 US Open on Saturday.
Azarenka had to dig deep to get past qualifier Ashlyn Krueger in the opening round, securing a hard-fought three-set victory. She was up against Marta Kostyuk in the second round.
The Belarusian raced to a 4-1 lead in the first set. Kostyuk had a few break point chances in two of her opponent's service games but was unable to capitalize on them. She secured another break of serve to clinch the set.
The former World No. 1 continued to steamroll her opponent as she jumped to a 4-0 lead. Kostyuk managed to retrieve one of the breaks to make it 4-1. However, Azarenka secured another break of serve to extend her lead to 5-1. This was followed by yet another break, this time in favor of the 20-year-old as she stopped her opponent from serving out the match.
With Kostyuk serving to stay in the match at 5-2, she held her nerve and saved a couple of match points. Azarenka stepped up to close out the proceedings for the second time and got the job done with a 6-2, 6-3 win.
3x #USOpen finalist Victoria Azarenka is quietly into Round 3👉 https://t.co/Czbhw6VkvR
Petra Martic kicked off her US Open campaign with a tough three-set win over Lesia Tsurenko. She took on World No. 4 Paula Badosa in the second round. Both players had break point chances in the first set but were unable to make the most of them. The set eventually went into a tie-break, which was claimed by the Spaniard.
Despite losing a closely contested set, Martic wasn't disheartened. Instead, she stepped up her game considerably and started to outplay Badosa by a huge margin. The Croat reeled off five games in a row to take the second set.
Martic won five consecutive games to build a 5-1 lead in the deciding set. Badosa then saved a match point on her serve to hold for 5-2, but the 31-year-old served out the match with ease in the following game to win 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-2.
Victoria Azarenka vs Petra Martic head-to-head
Azarenka leads Martic 1-0 in the head-to-head. She won their previous meeting at the 2012 Linz Open in straight sets.
Victoria Azarenka vs Petra Martic odds
(All odds sourced from BetMGM)
Victoria Azarenka vs Petra Martic prediction
Azarenka enters this contest as the favorite to win. She is a three-time finalist at the US Open, reaching the title round in 2012, 2013 and most recently in 2020.
She was cruising against Kostyuk in the second round but had some trouble closing out the match. This has been an issue that has bothered her quite a bit recently and could cost her a match going forward.
While Martic was pushed to three sets by Badosa in the previous round, she played some fantastic tennis to score her third win over a top 10 player this year. She finished the match with 35 winners and 19 unforced errors. Her serving stats were quite good too, highlighted by her 10 aces.
Azarenka is one of the biggest hitters on the tour, but Martic is capable of slugging it out with her. The Croat has plenty of tools in her arsenal to work with as her all-court game is much better than her opponent.
The Belarusian has played some of her best tennis at the US Open given her record here. That said, if Martic brings the same intensity from the previous round, she could easily oust Azarenka. While this is a match that could go down to the wire based on how they've played in their previous rounds, the former World No. 1 should be able to make it through to the fourth round.
Pick: Victoria Azarenka to win in three sets.