Victoria Azarenka started the grass-court season quite well, but she could not defend it in the second round of the Libema Open, ‘s-Hertogenbosch 2023 season.
In the opening match of the Libema Open, the third seed defeated the Serbian, Natalija Stevanovic, who proved to be a challenging opponent for the former world number 1 tennis player.
After going through this challenging match, it is hoped that the former world number 1 tennis player will further develop as the tournament progresses because he is one of the favorite tennis players at the Libema Open this week.
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In the second round, Victoria Azarenka met US tennis player, Ashlyn Krueger, who is determined to stop the player who has won two Grand Slam titles. The two tennis players have met before at the 2022 US Open, which the third seed won in three sets.
But this time, their meeting was much different, especially at the start of the first set. The world number 152, Krueger looked unstoppable and breezed into the quarterfinals with a convincing 6-3, 6-2 victory.
While the more experienced 33-year-old couldn’t find a rhythm, the American wasted little time in grabbing a 5-0 lead. However, the American knew it would not be an easy match after the third seed fought back and snatched three games in a row. Even so, the US tennis player still performed well under pressure before winning the final game without reply.
In the second set, Azarenka knew she couldn’t get off to a shaky start, but that didn’t happen. Once again the world number 152 took the lead with the help of a break early in the second set and after capitalizing on another break in the seventh game, there was nothing to stop the world number 152 from advancing to the Libema Open quarter-finals.
In the quarterfinals, Krueger will face sixth seed Bianca Andreescu or Slovakian tennis player Viktoria Hruncakova.
First seed Veronika Kudermetova fared more fortunately after she managed to beat Canadian Carol Zhao 6-1 6-3 and will face eighth seed Catherine McNally or Swiss tennis player Celine Naef in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, the second seed, Liudmila Samsonova, will duel against the seventh seed, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, for a place in the semifinals of the Libema Open.
Samsonova appeared mighty when she slaughtered Polina Kudermetova 6-4, 6-1, while Sasnovich had to give his best before defeating the Belgian national, Greet Minnen 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
