Azarenka breezes through

Brisbane, January 4

Twice Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka breezed past Russian Elena Vesnina 6-2 6-0 in the Brisbane International on Monday to set up a second-round showdown against top seed Simona Halep.

The former world No. 1 has been plagued by injuries in the last two years which have sent her down to 22nd in the world rankings but showed little signs of rust against qualifier Vesnina. Playing for the first time since retiring from the WTA event in Wuhan, China in September, Azarenka broke Vesnina six times to wrap up victory.

She will have a much sterner test against former French Open finalist Halep, who had a first-round bye.

Australian Sam Stosur had a much difficult match and narrowly avoided disappointment on home turf by battling through a wrist injury to claim an opening victory.

The former US Open champion recovered from 0-3 down in the final set to beat Slovakian qualifier Jana Cepelova 6-4 3-6 6-4 to start her year.

The 31-year-old has frequently failed to hit the heights on home turf having never won a tournament or progressed past the fourth round at the Australian Open.

The world No. 27 looked set for another disappointment before a spirited effort saw off the world number 147 and set up a second-round clash with Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro.

Italy’s Roberto Vinci, who ended Serena Williams’s bid for a calendar Grand Slam in the US Open semifinals last year, beat former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic 3-6 6-2 6-4.

Russian Maria Sharapova is the tournament draw card and she will kick off her campaign on Tuesday against compatriot Ekaterina Makarova. On the men’s side, Roger Federer will play Germany’s Tobias Kamke.

Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who has slumped from eighth to 28th in the rankings, started the year with a 6-3 7-6(10) win over fifth seed Gilles Simon of France.

Murray starts season with easy win at Hopman Cup

Perth: World No. 2 Andy Murray was satisfied with the start to his season after romping past France’s Kenny de Schepper 6-2 6-2 at the Hopman Cup here today.

Murray, who led Britain to their first Davis Cup triumph in 79 years just over a month ago, took under an hour to seal victory at the mixed team event. “Everything was working pretty good. I was able to finish a lot of the points up at the net,” he said.

Hobbling Serena ruled out of opening tie

World No. 1 Serena Williams was ruled out of her opening match at the Hopman Cup because of inflammation of the knee, organisers said.

The 34-year-old was scheduled to play her first official match since the US Open last September for the United States in their round robin tie against Ukraine but pulled out after a morning warm-up at the venue. — Reuters