Azarenka into Australian Open second round

Second seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus opened her bid for a third Australian Open title with a 7-6, 6-2 victory over World No.91 Johanna Larsson of Sweden on 14 January.

The Belarusian was made to work hard in the first set which lasted for 72 minutes. Finding her rhythm in the second set Victoria Azarenka took complete control of the game to see off the Swede within a span of some 30 minutes.

In round two the Belarusian will face Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic (84) that beat World No.86 Su-Wei Hsien of China 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 on 14 January.

Olga Govortsova of Belarus (90) will play China’s Ying-Ying Duan (193) in the opener.

In the men’s doubles Max Mirnyi of Belarus will team up with Russian Mikhail Yuzhny to face Nicholas Monroe of the U.S. and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina in round one. The 2013 season Max Mirnyi played in the duet with Romania's Horia Tecau. The two players won three ATP tournaments. The 36-year-old Belarusian started the new season in the tandem with Jerzy Janowicz of Poland. The pair lost the first round in Sydney to Joao Sousa of Portugal and Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-7, 9-11.

In 2007 Max Mirnyi together with Sweden’s Jonas Bjorkman reached the Australian Open final to fall to World No.1 team of Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (the United States).

The 2014 Australian Open competitions on Melbourne Park courts complete on 26 January.