Five takeaways from Victoria Azarenka's first win back at Indian Wells

The night of comebacks at the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday night didn’t stop with Serena Williams’ 7-5, 6-3 win over Zarina Diyas. Another Grand Slam champion, former No. 1 and new mom-on-tour Victoria Azarenka followed that up with her own straight-set victory against Heather Watson.

Here are five takeaways from the two-time Australian Open champion’s 6-4, 6-2 win over the Brit:

1. Azarenka is now 6-0 against Watson. Thursday night’s victory wasn’t easy. She let an early 5-1, double-break lead slip away to 5-4 before breaking again to take the first set, and one game alone in the second set—as she served for a 5-2 lead—lasted 18 minutes. But at the end of the day, the former No. 1 emerged with a one-hour, 43-minute victory, clinching it with one last Watson error into the net.

“It really means the world to me to just be able to be here and play and enjoy myself and do what I love to do, and walking out on the court I felt so much love,” Azarenka said in her on-court interview.

“I almost had tears in my eyes…It’s such an amazing feeling to be back and playing.”

2. This was her first match since Wimbledon. After leaving the tour for a year to become a mother, Azarenka briefly returned for the grass-court season in 2017, reaching the second round of Mallorca (falling to Ana Konjuh) and the fourth round of Wimbledon (falling to Simona Halep). She missed another eight months due to personal reasons, but the Belarusian is now back—and winning again.

Coincidentally, Azarenka’s last two wins have both come against Watson. Before falling to Halep in the fourth round of Wimbledon, she toughed out a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 win against the Brit in the third round.

Victoria Azarenka discussion:

3. She’s now 27-6 in her career at Indian Wells. That includes winning 17 of her last 19 matches here. Azarenka’s captured the title twice here, in 2012 (beating Maria Sharapova in the final) and 2016 (beating Serena Williams in the final). That win over Serena is all the more special given it’s one of only two losses Serena’s ever had here—the other was to Mary Pierce in the 2000 quarterfinals.

4. She’s now won 14 matches in a row on hardcourt. Yes, there’s a long gap in that winning streak—the first 13 of those wins came in 2016, with one win in Acapulco and 12 to capture back-to-back Premier Mandatory titles at Indian Wells and Miami—but the winning streak is still intact. She’s also 23-1 on the surface since the start of the 2016 season, her only loss in that time came in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Australian Open (to eventual champion Angelique Kerber).

5. She plays Sloane Stephens next. Judging by where they’re at right now, Stephens would seem like the favorite—she’s the reigning US Open champion and she’s ranked and seeded No. 13, while Azarenka’s a No. 204-ranked wild card into the draw. But Azarenka’s won all three of her previous meetings against Stephens in straight sets, coincidentally all at the Australian Open—6-1, 6-4 in the 2013 semifinals, 6-3, 6-2 in the fourth round in 2014 and 6-3, 6-2 again in the first round in 2015.

From Day 1 through to the Finals.

Up to 7 courts, including the biggest matches of each day.

Live and on-demand.

Get it at BuyTCPlus.com