INDIAN WELLS, US: Two-time Indian Wells champion Victoria Azarenka shook off a slow start to beat Vera Lapko 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday and set up a mouthwatering second-round meeting with long-time rival Serena Williams.
Azarenka, a former world No. 1 now ranked 48th, said she started a little too passive in dropping the first two games against her fellow Belarussian, but roared back to seal the win with ease.
She was looking forward to taking on 10th-seeded Williams, who like all the seeds in the combined WTA and ATP Masters event has a first-round bye.
The American has won 17 of their 21 prior encounters, but Azarenka won their most recent clash — in the 2016 Indian Wells final.
“Of course it’s going to be a very special match for us,” she said of their first clash since both became mothers.
“We have such a big history, it’s going to be really special. She motivates me, she inspires me, she pushes me to be better,” Azarenka said of Williams.
The opening day of women’s main draw play saw highly touted teenagers Bianca Andreescu and Amanda Ansimova reached the second round.
Canada’s Andreescu, 18, rallied from a set down to beat Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu 6-7, 6-3, 6-3.
“For me, the ending is the most important, so I’m really glad I pulled through,” said Andreescu, who has won 22 matches this season including qualifying and main draw.
She has climbed steadily in the rankings, rising from 107th at the start of the year to 60th.
“Mentally ... I was like, I might as well go for my shots, and see where that leads me and that’s what I did, and it worked,” said Andreescu, who booked a second-round meeting with 32nd seed Dominika Cibulkova.
American Ansimova, 17, lined up a meeting with 16th-seeded Elize Mertens of Belgium with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Serbian Aleksandra Krunic.
Third-seeded Petra Kvitova, who will face either Venus Williams or Andrea Petkovic in the second round, said she wasn’t surprised to see teenagers making such a strong showing.
“Every year we see some young generation coming,” she said, noting that while still little known they can play “with no fear.”
“They are not favorites, all the pressure is on (their opponents),” she said.
Elsewhere, American Sofia Kenin didn’t have to wait long to avenge her loss to Wang Yafan in last Saturday’s Acapulco women’s final — ousting China’s Wang 1-6, 7-5, 6-4.
Victoria Azarenka sets up mouthwatering clash against old rival Serena Williams
Victoria Azarenka sets up mouthwatering clash against old rival Serena Williams
- Former world No. 1 Azarenka to face American ace in second round of Masters event.
- Pair have met 21 times with Serena wining 17 of those clashes.
Dembélé stars as PSG crushes bitter rival Marseille 5-0 to regain top spot in Ligue 1
- The win restored defending champion PSG’s two-point lead over Lens after 21 rounds, with Marseille in fourth place behind Lyon after the humiliating defeat
PARIS: Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé starred with two goals and an assist as Paris Saint-Germain crushed bitter rival Marseille 5-0 to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1 on Sunday.
The win restored defending champion PSG’s two-point lead over Lens after 21 rounds, with Marseille in fourth place behind Lyon after the humiliating defeat.
“We wanted to send a message that we’re back,” Dembélé said after PSG’s biggest winning margin against Marseille.
“It was almost perfect,” PSG coach Luis Enrique said. “It’s an important day for our fans because we made history, 5-0 never happened before.”
Despite PSG’s attacking flair, Marseille coach Roberto De Zerbi’s choices will be scrutinized following a truly dismal performance from his side lacking composure and fight. Marseille was eliminated from the Champions League following a 3-0 defeat against Club Brugge less than two weeks ago.
“Once again, I say sorry to the fans,” De Zerbi said. “I’m not in the players’ heads. I thought we had prepared well for this game but clearly not. We need to understand why we played this way in Bruges and here.”
Top scorer Mason Greenwood, fellow forward Amine Gouiri and new signing Ethan Nwaneri were anonymous in attack, with veteran Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the bench.
De Zerbi dropped goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli after a couple of poor performances and replaced him with Jeffrey de Lange, who was out of sorts, albeit not helped by his defense.
De Lange was easily beaten when Dembélé side-footed in a cross from left back Nuno Mendes in the 12th minute following a quick break launched by Désiré Doué.
However, PSG could have been down to 10 players before then. Midfielder Vitinha caught defender Leonardo Balerdi’s ankle with a late tackle but escaped with a yellow card.
Having denied Bradley Barcola with a fine low save, De Lange was beaten again in the 37th when Dembélé profited from a glaring error from Balerdi.
He let the ball through his legs on PSG’s right flank, allowing Dembélé to attack the penalty area, dribble past him and find the roof of the net.
“We can’t accept this, we don’t come here to play like this,” said Balerdi, who did not mention his own performance. “We were not good enough and you could see it. Against such a team you pay for it.”
Marseille’s weak defense cracked in 10 second-half minutes, with Facundo Medina scoring an own-goal over the head of De Lange, and Dembélé setting up Khvicha Kvaratskhelia for a clinical volley before Lee Kang-in slotted home the fifth.
Marseille’s 1-0 win over PSG in September will seem like a distant memory.
Fans closely watched
PSG fans were in the spotlight after last season’s match at Parc des Princes was marred by homophobic and racist chanting, with a warning to “stop discriminatory chants” posted on the giant screen.
There were brief discriminatory chants about Marseille at the start of the game and referee Willy Delajod stopped play for about one minute around the 70th, at which point a message was posted on the big screen.
Köhn gets away with blunder
Monaco goalkeeper Philipp Köhn got away with a blunder in a 0-0 draw at Nice in the French Riviera derby.
Köhn stopped the ball going out for a corner but slid and mis-kicked it to attacking midfielder Sofiane Diop on the edge of the penalty area in the 72nd minute. Diop’s curling shot was going in until defender Thilo Kehrer acrobatically heeled the ball away.
Folarin Balogun hit the crossbar for Monaco in the third minute.
Other matches
Veteran striker Ciro Immobile drew a blank on his league debut for Paris FC in a 0-0 draw at Auxerre.
During the 2019-20 season he finished as the “Capocannoniere” (top scorer) in the Italian league with 36 goals for Lazio and has scored 304 goals overall at club level.
Immobile played forward Jonathan Ikoné clean through during the second half, but Ikoné’s shot was saved.
Angers moved up to ninth after beating Toulouse 1-0 thanks to a brilliant lob from defender Lilian Raolisoa from nearly 40 meters out in the 89th.
Le Havre moved up to 13th after winning 2-1 at home to Strasbourg.
Lens beat Rennes 3-1 on Saturday.
