Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka will start her grass-court season at the Nottingham Open in June.
The world No.15 will be hoping that she can win her first ever WTA title on grass. The Belarusian has played in 34 WTA finals, but only one of them was on grass (2010 Eastbourne International). Despite not winning a title on the surface, Azarenka has reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2011 and 2012. The 26-year-old spoke about her excitement of playing in the tournament for the first time in her career.
“I’m really looking forward to playing the Aegon Open Nottingham tournament for the first time. I know the tournament was new to the calendar last year and I’ve heard great things from other players about the atmosphere, the city and what great preparation it was for the grass-court season ahead.” Azarenka said in a statement.
The addition of Azarenka to the tournament has been highly praised by Rebecca James, the director of the tournament.
“We are delighted to announce such a world-class star of the game for the Aegon Open Nottingham. Not only does Victoria bring one of the most exciting on-court games on the circuit, she is an engaging character off it and will provide great entertainment for fans coming to watch.” She said.
Azarenka will be joined in the tournament by America’s Madison Keys. Keys first and so far only WTA title occurred on the grass at the 2014 Eastbourne International when she defeated Angelique Kerber. This year Keys reached the fourth round of the Australian Open before losing to world No.133 Zhang Shuai in an injury-plagued match for the American. The 21-year-old played her first match since Melbourne at this week’s BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Seeded 23rd, she suffered a straight sets loss top qualifier Nicole Gibbs.
The Nottingham Open will get underway on June 6th at the Nottingham Tennis Centre. Last year at the tournament six out of the eight seeded players fail to reach the quarter-final stage. The defending champion is Ana Konjuh, who defeated Monica Niculescu in the final to win her maiden WTA title.
