"Wins like this are more important than clean matches" says Azarenka after comeback win over Putintseva

Victoria Azarenka had to stage an incredible fightback in her opening match at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open on Sunday, outlasting Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 5-7, 6-2, 7-5.

The Belarussian player spent nearly 3 hours on the court against Putintseva who was up 4-0 in the final set. Azarenka mounted a comeback that had her level the scoreline at 4-4 before going on to win the final set with 7-5. After the match she spoke about the importance of winning matches like this:

"Wins like this are sometimes more important than a clean match because you find a way when you’re not playing well. You just try to find a window, try to find an opportunity. I feel like I didn’t play really well today, but I was fighting for everything. I didn’t really look that the score was down. I knew that I have to keep going, I will find my opportunity, and I’m really glad I stuck [with it] here."

Azarenka also orchestrated a funny exchange with the ref where she complained about Putintseva not getting a warning for smashing racquets while she got one. if you are curious what exactly happened you can read about it below.