Victoria Azarenka did not lose a single game in her 6-0 6-0 win over Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck in just 53 minutes in the night match on the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.
Azarenka, double winner in Melbourne in 2012 and 2013, got off to a great start this year winning the Brisbane International title after dropping just games in her five matches before winning her sixth consecutive match in 2016.
Azarenka hit 10 winners to 7 unforced errors and won 91 percent of her first serve points in the first set. Van Uytyanck, who reached the quarter finals at the French Open last year, won just 13 points in the opening set.
“I am pretty happy. I don’t think I am looking for perfection. I am looking for effort. I like that I was very composed today from the first point to the last point. Like it didn’t matter what the score was in the match. I was there on every point. So that’s what I am happy about today”, said Azarenka
Angelique Kerber fended off a match point when she was 5-6 in the tie-break second set before clinching the win with 6-3 in the decider.
Madison Keys, who reached the semifinals in Melbourne last year but played her first match this season after withdrawing from Sydney due to an elbow injury, recovered from a slow start to beat Zarina Diyas 7-6 (7-5) 6-1. The young US player saved two set points in the ninth game before taking the first set at the tie-break after 56 minutes. Keys then pulled away to a 5-0 in the second set to secure the win.
Keys fired 25 winners including 4 aced to 20 unforced errors.
“I think being down a set point almost helped me. I thought. You are down, keep playing. You can only lose the set. I definitely had to dig deep and figure it out”, said Keys
Keys is now coached by Jesse Levine after leaving Lindsay Davenport who cannot travel full-time because of her family responsabilities.
Ana Ivanovic cruised past Australian wildcard Tammi Patterson 6-2 6-3 without facing a single break point. Ivanovic, who lost in the first round to Lucie Hradecka last year and was knocked out in the first round matches in Auckland and Sydney. Ivanovic will take on Anastasija Sevastova who has advanced after Jarmila Wolfe withdrew from the match during the second set as she was trailing 6-0 4-2. Sevastova beat Ivanovic in their previous head-to-head match at Indian Wells 2010.
Ivanovic won 14 of her 23 points on Patterson’s second serve points and broke serve three times.
“It was really good to have a win today. I thought I played a quite solid match. I started well, tried to be aggressive and transfer what I worked on in my practice court. It wasn’t really the beginning I had in mind in this Aussie tour, but I am really happy to have this victory and hopefully I can improve in my next match. It’s never easy playing someone you faced for the first time. I haven’t seen her play much before. I was really happy I managed to just stay calm and get breaks when it mattered.”, said Ivanovic
Patterson was close to quit tennis but after a series of good results she was offered a wild-card to play in her first Grand Slam tournament.