Azarenka sets up clash with Serena at Indian Wells.
INDIAN WELLS: Former world number one Victoria Azarenka dismissed Vera Lapko 6-2, 6-3 to set up a second round clash with Serena Williams while Johanna Konta cruised to a straight sets win in opening round action at the BNP Paribas Open.
After falling behind 2-0 at the start, Azarenka reeled off six straight games and ultimately made quick work of Lapko on a windy day in the California desert.
Konta’s pinpoint serving proved too much for France’s Pauline Parmentier to handle as the Briton coasted to a 6-,2 6-3 win to set up a second-round clash with Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan.
Two young Americans also advanced on Wednesday as 17-year-old Amanda Anisimova crushed Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic 6-0, 6-4 and 20-year-old Sofia Kenin came from behind to dispatch China’s Wang Yafan 1-6, 7-5, 6-4.
Canadian Bianca Andreescu, fresh off her semi-final appearance at the Mexican Open in Acapulco last week, defeated Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-3 to set up a second round battle with Dominika Cibulkova.
Czech Barbora Strycova, China’s Zhang Shuai, American Jennifer Brady and German Tatjana Maria were among the other players to advance at the event in Indian Wells.
Meanwhile, Petra Kvitova says a meeting with former world number one Monica Seles at Wimbledon last year, where they discussed returning to the sport after a knife attack, had been one of the most important of her life.
Kvitova suffered cuts to her left hand while defending herself during a home invasion in 2016, while Seles was stabbed in the back during a match in Hamburg in 1993 which kept her off the court for more than two years.
“We met each other and decided we were looking to talk about what we’d been through,” the Australian Open finalist told reporters at Indian Wells on Wednesday.
“It was nice to meet someone who has been through something very similar,” she said.
“It was a big surprise that she wanted to talk with me and say nice words. It was one of the biggest things I’ve ever heard and from such a legend, to hear what happened to her.” Seles returned to the game after the attack and won the 1996 Australian Open but never fully regained the dominant form that saw her win nine majors as a teenager.