Victoria Azarenka played really well against Elena Rybakina at the 2024 Dubai Championships, but ultimately she had to retire due to an injury.
It's been a really solid year for the WTA veteran, who has had some notable performances so far and plays really well. Azarenka jumped all over Rybakina in the opening set, taking an early break and then holding it for a 6-4 finish.
Rybkaina has admittedly played a lot of tennis lately and looked a bit slow at the start, but as the match progressed, she was able to find more of her tennis. The Kazakhstani player didn't create any kind of pressure in the opening set.
Azarenka didn't face any break points, but she would face them early in the second set, and pretty quickly, Rybakina was able to overwhelm her.
She broke her once and then once more for the double break lead, and it was not a surprise that the final score in the second set ended up being 6-2 for Rybakina, who still had some minor issues on her own serve.
It's an interesting matchup. Rybakina generally had the upper hand, but a serious level from Azarenka can be threatening to her as very few players are capable of absorbing power as well as Azarenka is.
Unfortunately, as the match went on, the Belarusian was also hampered by an injury. It became more apparent in the second set and she took a medical timeout in between sets.
After consulting the doctor, the Belarusian opted to retire from the match, which was very unfortunate. She was playing really well and is having a really strong start to the year.
It was a very lucky finish for Rybakina, who likely would have won the match anyway, but this will give her a bit more time to rest up after a lot of tennis in recent weeks. In the third round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai, she will take on Magdalena Frech from Poland.
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