(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Madrid, Spain - Former world number one Victoria Azarenka saved three match points on Wednesday to overcome Japan's Risa Ozaki in Mallorca on her comeback from a year out following the birth of her son.
The Belarusian, a two-time Australian Open champion in 2012 and 2013, was one game from defeat against Ozaki in her first-round tie when play was suspended due to bad light on Tuesday.
Azarenka rallied from 0-40 down as Ozaki served for the match to claw through 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) in two hours and 44 minutes in her first appearance since the 2016 French Open.
The 27-year-old will meet Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh in the last 16 in her only tournament ahead of Wimbledon, which gets underway on July 3.
Azarenka, who gave birth to her first child, Leo, in December last year, no longer has an official world ranking and entered the grass-court tournament in Spain as a wildcard.
However she will play at Wimbledon using her protected ranking of sixth from 12 months ago.
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