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Azarenka squeezes past Venus to win Rome opener

After clinching the Western & Southern Open title and reaching the US Open final, Victoria Azarenka is successfully transferring to European clay, surviving a tough first-round match against Venus Williams to progress at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

In the first set, the world No.70 Williams twice recovered from a break down, saved a set point at 4-5 to draw even and then broke Azarenka’s serve to lead for the first time and serve for the set. The 14th-ranked Azarenka managed to rebreak and force a tiebreak in which Williams came back from 2-5, but hit two long forehands and the Belarusian converted her third set point after 68 minutes of play.