While the Paris Olympics is garnering much attention, there is some intriguing tennis action underway at the Citi Open in Washington. Stars like Aryna Sabalenka and Ben Shelton have given the Olympics a miss and are seen in action at the tournament in the United States. With the latter stages of the event beginning, an exciting clash will take place later today between Aryna Sabalenka and Victoria Azarenka.

The younger Belarusian is aiming to go one step further at the US Open this year after she reached the finals last season. For this, she has begun her hard-court preparations at the Citi Open and a favorable result here will boost her chances going into the last Grand Slam tournament of the season.

Aryna Sabalenka vs Victoria Azarenka: Preview

Sabalenka has seen both highs and lows this year. While she began her season with a bang by winning the Australian Open title, she didn’t have the best of clay-court and grass-court seasons. Further, she also suffered an injury due to which she had to skip the Wimbledon Championships.

Nonetheless, Sabalenka made a positive comeback by overcoming the challenge of Kamilla Rakhimova in the second round of the Citi Open. Seeded first, Sabalenka overcame the hiccups in the second set to prevail 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. However, she’ll have to pull up her socks as she faces a formidable opponent in the form of Azarenka next.

Like Sabalenka, Azarenka’s season has been affected by injuries. She too missed the Wimbledon Championships and is yet to win a title this year. Although she reached the semifinals of three tournaments, Azarenka suffered defeats in all of those encounters. Making a comeback at the Citi Open, the former World Number 1 is seeded sixth and has had to grind hard for her victories. She’ll have to do the same if she has to find success over Sabalenka.

Sabalenka vs. Azarenka: Head-to-Head

Sabalenka and Azarenka, both from Belarus, have an intriguing rivalry despite their same nationality. They have met five times before on the WTA Tour, with Sabalenka dominating almost all the matches. She has won four of the five encounters played against Azarenka.

They first met at the 2019 US Open where Sabalenka dug deep to win the match in three sets. However, they have faced off against each other just once in the last three years, with their recent meeting coming earlier this year in Brisbane. Sabalenka was the top seed there too and won the match against Azarenka comfortably in straight sets. Thus, she would like history to repeat itself when the two go up against each other in Washington.

Prediction: Sabalenka to triumph in the clash of the Belarusians

Given her strong head-to-head record and better run of form than Azarenka, Sabalenka is expected to win the match against her compatriot. However, it won’t be a straightforward victory as Azarenka would do everything to reverse her fortunes against Sabalenka. The latter is predicted to win the match in three sets. The quarterfinal battle between them will take place in the Stadium later today.