MADRID — Victoria Azarenka squandered triple match point, double-faulting on the last one, and Serena Williams rallied to reach the Madrid Open quarterfinals with a 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (1) win on Wednesday.
Trying to serve out the match at 6-5 in the deciding set, Azarenka double-faulted on the final three points to gift Williams the game.
Williams then dominated the tiebreaker and improved her head-to-head record against Azarenka to 15-3. Azarenka is 0-9 against top-ranked players.
"She almost hit an ace. She missed it by not even three centimeters. I thought, 'Wow,'" Williams said of her rival's serve at 40-0.