The 2013 Cincinnati champion, Victoria Azarenka faced the Swiss tennis player, Belinda Bencic in the first round of the Western & Southern Open 2019. Belinda Bencic left the opening round match incomplete as she withdrew due to an injury at 4-6, 0-1 and Azarenka sailed into the next round. 

In the opening set, Victoria Azarenka lost her first service game and later she was on 1-3 down. With Bencic making errors the Belarusian could set the score to 3-3. Thereafter she elevated her level of play and gave a tough time to Belinda Bencic to survive in the set. 

Vika!

Game, Set Azarenka!

In the second set, the ladies played just a game, but Belinda Bencic called the trainer and then she was forced to retire from the match due to her injury. It was a difficult moment for Belinda as she left the court in tears. This is the first time in the year 2019 that the Swiss player, Bencic has retired from a singles match and she was unhappy about not completing the match.

Bencic Retires

Later, Victoria Azarenka hit some tennis balls with a spectator in the Cincinnati stadium. She asked out one the girls in the stands and rallied with her for a while.

Vika made her day!

This year, Belinda Bencic won her title at Dubai Championships and in the men’s domain, her legendary compatriot, Roger Federer lifted up his 100th ATP title in Dubai. Post that victory, she could only reach the finals in Mallorca and over there she lost Sofia Kenin in the title match.

She made a deep run in Indian Wells as she reached the semifinals and lost to Angelique Kerber. In Madrid, she was one amongst the last four and was defeated by Simona Halep. In majors this year, she couldn’t advance beyond the third round and could just win two matches in each of the majors.