Tennis Champion Wins French Open, Breaking Records Set by Venus and Serena Williams.
In a historic accomplishment at the French Open on Tuesday, Victoria Azarenka clinched a first-round victory, becoming the oldest player in the Open Era to win a Women's Singles Grand Slam main draw match with a double bagel (6-0, 6-0). The 35-year-old Belarusian trounced Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in just 48 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Prior to Azarenka, the record was held by Venus Williams, who achieved the feat at Wimbledon in 2015. Since the year 2000, only Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters (six each) and Serena Williams (four) have won more Women's Singles Grand Slam matches with a 6-0, 6-0 scoreline than Azarenka, who has now notched her fifth to surpass Serena Williams' record.
In the match, Azarenka displayed her dominance from the outset, winning 49 out of 66 points, while Wickmayer produced 26 unforced errors and managed only one game point during the entire match. Interestingly, Wickmayer, who was ranked outside the world's top 1,000, will retire from the sport after Wimbledon this summer.
The world no. 75 Azarenka will face American Sofia Kenin in the next round, after Kenin swept aside France's Varvara Gracheva, 6-3, 6-1. Kenin, who has already shown her quality on clay this year, having finished runner-up to Jessica Pegula in Charleston, will be hoping to go one better than in 2020 when she slipped to defeat in the final at the hands of Iga Swiatek.
The pair's head-to-head stands at 2-1 in favor of Kenin, with Azarenka having won their only clay-court match five years ago in Rome with a scoreline of 6-0, 6-0. Azarenka will inevitably present a formidable challenge for Kenin as she seeks to advance further in the tournament.
In the realm of tennis sports, league enthusiasts might find Azarenka's victory over Wickmayer in MMA-like fashion, given the overwhelming dominance displayed (6-0, 6-0). Incidentally, the sports-analysis community unveiled that only a few, including Serena Williams, have achieved such convincing wins in Women's Singles Grand Slam matches, with Azarenka now claiming her fifth. As she prepares for her next match against Kenin, bettors should take note that a repeat of their 2015 encounter on clay, ending 6-0, 6-0 in Azarenka's favor, is not entirely out of the question.
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