Victoria Azarenka began her bid for a hat-trick of
Australian Open titles with an unconvincing first-round victory over Johanna
Larsson.
The two-time defending champion was given a major scare
in a testing opener, with world No 91 Larsson twice having the opportunity to
serve for the first set in the searing heat on Rod Laver Arena.
Yet the second seed, who made 23 unforced errors in the
opening set, raised her game each time she was under pressure and kept her
hopes of a third consecutive triumph in Melbourne alive after a 7-6 (7-2) 6-2
victory in one hour and 46 minutes.
"Sometimes it can be tricky, you know, to find your
range, as it was today a little bit," she said.
"I'll just try to keep the things that have been
working before, what I was working on in Brisbane and my off-season and just
try to reproduce it more and more and be disciplined with that."
Azarenka admitted that the temperatures - which soared
towards 43 Celsius - had an impact on the encounter on Rod Laver Arena.
"It's not easy. I thought they were going to close
the roof for the second match, but, I mean, it's okay," said Azarenka,
Azarenka, who will now face unseeded Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.
Focus
"But I feel pretty good. Actually, I felt better as
the match was going on than in the beginning."
Caroline Wozniacki produced a sizzling display with a 6-0
6-2 rout of Lourdes Dominguez Lino - and the former world No 1, seeded 10th in
Melbourne, has her sights set on winning a maiden grand slam.
"I have achieved so much in my career already,"
she said. "But at the same time, when I go on court and when I play
tournaments I want to win.
"For me right now I try to focus on the Grand Slams.
It's tough, it's never easy. You have to win seven matches. There's always
going to be some tricky opponents along the way.
"But that's what I'm missing on my resume, so that's
obviously what I would like to achieve."
Fellow seeds Jelena Jankovic, Simona Halep, Carla Suarez
Navarro, Dominika Cibulkova and Alize Cornet are also through to the second
round.
Jankovic, the eighth seed, overcame an early fall to beat
Misaki Doi 6-1 6-2, while 11th seed Halep crushed Katarzyna Piter 6-0 6-1.
No 16 seed Suarez Navarro brushed aside Vania King 6-3
6-2, 20th-ranked Cibulkova beat veteran Francesca Schiavone - who was playing
in her 54th consecutive grand slam - 6-3 6-4 and 25th seed Alize Cornet saw
Polona Hercog retire hurt after the opening game of the match.
Culled from Sky sports
