Victoria Azarenka vs Anastasia Zakharova

Wimbledon 2025 – 1st Round Preview
Victoria Azarenka vs Anastasia Zakharova

🧠 Form & Context

Victoria Azarenka

• 🧭 Searching for rhythm: Came into grass season with a 6–9 record in 2025. First signs of improvement came at Bad Homburg where she won three matches before falling to Swiatek.
• 🌱 Reliable Slam starter: Hasn’t lost in R1 at Wimbledon since her debut in 2006. A former semifinalist here, she knows how to navigate early grass-court rounds.
• ⚠️ Physical questions: At 35, fitness isn’t guaranteed. But her instincts, return game, and compact strokes make her dangerous in shorter rallies.

Anastasia Zakharova

• 🚀 Qualifier momentum: Won three dramatic three-set matches to enter the main draw—each involved a deciding set grind, showcasing resilience.
• 🧱 Improved 2025: Her best WTA season to date includes a grass-court win over Vekić and a 6–2 record on the surface this swing.
• 💡 Inexperience at Slams: This is her Wimbledon main draw debut and she holds a 4–9 lifetime record in Grand Slam matches.

🔍 Match Breakdown

Azarenka’s strength lies in dictating with her flat two-handed backhand and redirecting pace early in rallies. On grass, that translates to short points—her bread and butter. Zakharova, by contrast, plays longer points and needs errors from her opponents to build scoreboard pressure.

Unless Azarenka is visibly fatigued or mentally checked out, her game should overwhelm Zakharova’s defensive rhythm. Experience and comfort on grass make Azarenka a heavy favorite, especially given Zakharova’s limited top-level exposure.

Zakharova can hang in rallies, but lacks weapons to win them. If Vika serves at a decent level and moves decently, this may stay competitive in scoreline but one-sided in control.

🔮 Prediction

Zakharova has the grit to make things awkward, especially if Azarenka is rusty, but Vika’s superior ball-striking and positional sense should win out.

Prediction: Azarenka in 2 tight sets. A tiebreak or a 7-5 set is possible. Azarenka -4.5 games has marginal value if you trust her to dominate early.