Australian Open: Azarenka beats Kenin in battle of former champions

Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, the No 24 seed, defeated American Sofia Kenin in a hard-fought first round battle between two former champions at the Australian Open on Monday.

Azarenka, the 2012 and 2013 winner of the first Grand Slam of the season, needed two hours and four minutes to beat 202 champion Kenin 6-4, 7-6 at Melbourne Park.

The former world No 1, who is now accompanied by son Leo on the tour, will face the winner of the match between French lucky loser Leolia Jeanjean and Argentinian Nadia Podoroska next.

Azarenka is now the only former champion left in the women’s singles draw.

Australian Open (Grand Slam), other first-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 24,297,942, most recent results first):

• Barbora Krejcikova (20) beat Sara Bejlek (Q): 6-3, 6-1
• Qinwen Zheng (29) beat Dalma Galfi: 6-0, 6-2
• Aliaksandra Sasnovich beat Brenda Fruhvirtova (Q): 7-5, 6-2
• Jelena Ostapenko (17) beat Dayana Yastremska: 6-4, 6-2
• Anhelina Kalinina beat Coco Vandeweghe (Q): 6-3, 6-1
• Karolina Muchova beat Lesia Tsurenko (Q): 6-2, 6-1
• Petra Kvitova (15) beat Alison Van Uytvanck: 7-6 (3), 6-2
• Bernarda Pera beat Moyuka Uchijima (WC): 2-6, 6-3, 6-1
• Clara Burel (Q) beat Talia Gibson (WC): 6-3, 6-4
• Maria Sakkari (6) beat Yue Yuan: 6-1, 6-4
• Diana Shnaider (Q) beat Kristina Kucova: 7-6 (6), 7-5
• Marta Kostyuk beat Amanda Anisimova (28): 6-3, 6-4
• Olivia Gadecki (WC) beat Polina Kudermetova (Q): 7-5, 6-1
• Jessica Pegula (3) beat Jaqueline Cristian: 6-0, 6-1
• Coco Gauff (7) beat Katerina Siniakova: 6-1, 6-4
• Emma Raducanu beat Tamara Korpatsch: 6-3, 6-2
• Danielle Collins (13) beat Anna Kalinskaya: 7-5, 5-7, 6-4
• Bianca Andreescu beat Marie Bouzkova (25): 6-2, 6-4
• Cristina Bucsa (Q) beat Eva Lys (Q): 2-6, 6-0, 6-2
• Tamara Zidansek vs. Ons Jabeur
• Viktoriya Tomova vs. Belinda Bencic
• Alison Riske-Amritraj vs. Marketa Vondrousova
• Sloane Stephens vs. Anastasia Potapova
• Beatriz Haddad Maia vs. Nuria Parrizas Diaz
• Irina-Camelia Begu vs. Elizabeth Mandlik
• Daria Kasatkina vs. Varvara Gracheva
• Claire Liu vs. Madison Brengle
• Mayar Sherif vs. Magda Linette
• Maryna Zanevska vs. Veronika Kudermetova
• Shuai Zhang vs. Patricia Maria Tig
• Lucrezia Stefanini vs. Tatjana Maria
• Jasmine Paolini vs. Liudmila Samsonova
• Lucia Bronzetti vs. Laura Siegemund
• Petra Martic vs. Viktorija Golubic
• Sorana Cirstea vs. Yulia Putintseva
• Donna Vekic vs. Oksana Selekhmeteva
• Lauren Davis vs. Danka Kovinic
• Anett Kontaveit vs. Julia Grabher
• Linda Fruhvirtova vs. Jaimee Fourlis
• Katherine Sebov vs. Caroline Garcia
• Katie Volynets vs. Evgeniya Rodina
• Xiyu Wang vs. Karolina Pliskova
• Kaia Kanepi vs. Kimberly Birrell
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Camila Giorgi
• Martina Trevisan vs. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
• Garbine Muguruza vs. Elise Mertens
• Arianne Hartono vs. Shelby Rogers
• Aryna Sabalenka vs. Tereza Martincova
• Leylah Fernandez vs. Alize Cornet
• Ysaline Bonaventure vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova
• Diane Parry vs. Taylor Townsend
• Madison Keys vs. Anna Blinkova
• Iga Swiatek vs. Jule Niemeier
• Jil Teichmann vs. Harriet Dart
• Xinyu Wang vs. Storm Hunter
• Elena Rybakina vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto
• Lin Zhu vs. Rebecca Marino
• Leolia Jeanjean vs. Nadia Podoroska
• Laura Pigossi vs. Catherine McNally
• Kaja Juvan vs. Selena Janicijevic
• Panna Udvardy vs. Camila Osorio
• Kamilla Rakhimova vs. Kateryna Baindl
• Anna Bondar vs. Ana Bogdan