Azarenka and Pegula advance at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships

Victoria Azarenka and Jessica Pegula both had trouble at the Dubai Championship but both managed to pull out victories in three sets.

Azarenka was the player that barely pulled through as she faced Anisimova who had multiple chances to win the match but she failed to do so. The first set opened with Azarenka taking an early break and it seemed like she has good control of the match. She lost it not long after that but broke once more only to lose it not long after that. Eventually, Anisimova took it 6-4 after outplaying her opponent down the stretch.

The second set went similarly but with a different outcome. Anisimova was up an early break in this one but Azarenka came back to win the set 6-4 sending us into a crazy 3rd one. It was genuinely crazy because Anisimova was up a break on three different occasions including a 5-4 when she served for the match. None of it worked out and she lost the match in the tiebreak 5-7.

Jessica Pegula had a similar experience but she was able to pull out of the match easier in the final set. Pegula smashed her opponent in the first set 6-2 but it was clear that she was having difficulties as she dropped her serve twice. Those difficulties proved a problem in the second set when she allowed Tomova to break her three times to win the set 7-5. The final one proved much easier as it was a 6-1 finish for Pegula who finally played as well as she can.