"I stepped up and I'm really happy" says Victoria Azarenka after win over Pegula

Jessica Pegula entered this match as the favourite simply because her level so far at the event was brilliant. She was playing sensational tennis hitting the ball extremely well with very few mistakes. That did not continue against Victoria Azarenka who did not allow it. Azarenka played her best match of the event so far to take down the native American 6-4 6-2.

Azarenka herself noted a step up from her usual level in the past matches admitting that she raised it today:

"I started going for my shots from the beginning. I knew I have to apply pressure on her, and I will have the moment where I will have the opportunity. I think in the beginning of the match we had a lot of great rallies, a lot of points where I was like, 'Oh, maybe I got this one,' and she got me. I felt that I really just stuck to being aggressive and being consistent. I got my opportunities."

The Belarussian is very familiar with Indian Wells winning the event twice (2012, 2016) and her experience showed today against Pegula. She was also very well prepared knowing exactly what her opponent would do. Unfortunately for Pegula, her game has not a lot of variety so after plan A failed it was over quickly.

It's a rare great result for Azarenka in 2021 who did not have the best of years. Perhaps she can turn around those fortunes at an event where she lifted the trophy twice already.