AZARENKA 1-0 KUZNETSOVA. Vika faces an immediate tests at 0-30 but reels of four points in a row to dig out the hold and start off on the front foot.

GAME, SET AND MATCH! – AZARENKA 6-4 2-6 6-3 KUZNETSOVA. It’s all over! In the battle between the two-time Grand Slam champions, it is Azarenka who prevails. It was a match where quality and consistency was lacking for large spells but it ended on a high with some gutsy tennis on both sides of the net. The Belarusian fell away badly in the second set but regrouped to edge it in the decider. She clinched victory in two hours on her second match point after saving break point with a magnificent drive volley.

AZARENKA 6-4 2-6 5-3 KUZNETSOVA. Svetlana refuses to bow out. She defends like her life depends on it and saves match point with some wonderful retrieval play. It’s the rally of the contest and from there she somehow manages to snatch another game back. Vika looks highly frustrated and will have to dust herself down and compose herself to serve for the match for the second time.

BREAK! – AZARENKA 6-4 2-6 5-2 KUZNETSOVA. That is perhaps Kuznetsova’s best game of the match. It could well be too late, but the groundstrokes were quite sublime as she sent her opponent scrambling from flank to flank in rally after rally. She breaks from 30-0 down but it’s still a tall order to do anything other than make the scoreline less crushing.

BREAK! – AZARENKA 6-4 2-6 5-1 KUZNETSOVA. That could be curtains for the 2009 champion. She blows a 30-0 lead and gets twitchy at deuce. She leaks errors to both tramlines and needs a minor miracle to turn it around from here. Azarenka will serve for the match.

AZARENKA 6-4 2-6 4-1 KUZNETSOVA. Vika edges closer to the finish line. She digs deep at 15-30 as she trusts herself at the net with a crisp backhand drive volley. Kuznetsova has a chance to attack at 40-30 on a second serve but dumps her return into the net.

AZARENKA 6-4 2-6 3-1 KUZNETSOVA. She’s on the board! The grunting and heavy hitting increased in intensity and it paid off. A brutal backhand down the line is just too strong and seizes a much-needed hold to 30.

AZARENKA 6-4 2-6 3-0 KUZNETSOVA. That’s far too routine in a match rife with breaks from Svetlana’s perspective. It’s a comfortable hold to 15 for the former world number one as she takes a tentative grip of the proceedings.

BREAK! – AZARENKA 6-4 2-6 2-0 KUZNETSOVA. There’s a huge scream of ‘Come on!’ from Azarenka as Kuznetsova’s bid to fend off triple break point comes unstuck when she leaks another unforced error on the final one.

AZARENKA 6-4 2-6 1-0 KUZNETSOVA. This match would make for a great montage of bad shots. It sounds harsh, but despite some nice play at times there have been a catalogue of hugely avoidable errors. Kuznetsova adds another with a wayward backhand volley when gliding towards the net. It lets Vika off the hook to take the game to 30 and get Set 3 off to a solid start.

SET! – AZARENKA 6-4 2-6 KUZNETSOVA. We are going the distance. Kuznetsova finds her serving mojo at just the right moment, biting back from 15-40 to serve out the set from deuce. That took some doing, but there’s no doubt she was the better player in that second set.

AZARENKA 6-4 2-5 KUZNETSOVA. That’s a plucky hold from Azarenka. It’s so hard to predict what can happen now. Logic would suggest Kuznetsova will eventually take us into a decider but it’s been an incredibly unpredictable encounter.

Elsewhere, Sascha Zverev trails 3-6 3-6 to his compatriot Oscar Otte.

BREAK! – AZARENKA 6-4 0-5 KUZNETSOVA. That’s a horror show from Vika. She’s in charge of the point trying to stave off yet more break points. She swings a backhand to the corner that Kuznetsova can only defend high. She darts forward but slaps a terrible volley into the net. It actually looked easier to make it. It’s 5-0 and a bizarre match just gets stranger.

AZARENKA 6-4 0-4 KUZNETSOVA. The Russian surges 40-0 up but then stutters on the next two points. She has to hang tough in the final rally with a low slice that bamboozles her opponent into a forehand error into the net. It’s fine defence and sees her take a firm grip of this set.

BREAK! – AZARENKA 6-4 0-3 KUZNETSOVA. This match has had its fair share of unforced and sometimes woeful errors, but Kuznetsova rolls back the years with a quite delightful drop shot to claim another break from deuce.

AZARENKA 6-4 0-2 KUZNETSOVA. More squeals, but this time it’s from Azarenka as Kuznetsova manages to chalk up a rare hold to take advantage of the gifts and consolidate.

BREAK! – AZARENKA 6-4 0-1 KUZNETSOVA. New set, similar story. Vika corks a gorgeous backhand winner down the line as she takes the game by the scruff of the neck. She seems in the groove but a double fault and a poor forehand into the tramlines allow the Russian to make deuce. It clearly rattles the Belarusian as a pair of double faults gift her opponent an opening game that was looking way beyond her.

SET! – AZARENKA 6-4 KUZNETSOVA. There’s a scream of frustration from Kuznetsova as she fires long of the baseline and coughs up two set points. It does little to inspire an internal response as she slaps a forehand into the net in the ensuing point after a deep, high bouncing approach from her opponent. Azarenka takes a strange, error-strewn opener in 39 minutes.

AZARENKA 5-4 KUZNETSOVA. Like London buses… We wait an age for a hold and then we get two in quick succession. Azarenka finds some first serves and it makes a huge difference as she holds to love. The scoreboard pressure is firmly fixed on Svetlana now.