Seventh seed Victoria Azarenka overcame a first set scare from Swiss Stefanie Voegele to advance into the third round of Australian Open 2010 with a 6-4 6-0 victory on Thursday.
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In their first career meeting, the Belarusian was tested by 19-year-old Voegele, who worked her opponent hard from the beginning. In the second game of the opening set, the Swiss applied immense pressure on the Azarenka serve, setting up two break points. After a lengthy game, Voegele failed to capitalise, handing Azarenka the game with a backhand into the net.
Azarenka, sporting a fluro pink-frilled skirt to match her fluro pink shoelaces, snatched an early break to gain a 3-1 lead. Voegele held form, bouncing back to level the set 4-4 with a drop shot.
Serving at 4-4, the Swiss, ranked 74, continued to push Azarenka but made numerous unforced errors at crucial points in the game. Her more experienced opponent took advantage, and was handed a break after Voegele sent a backhand past the baseline.
A pumped-up Azarenka wrapped up the opening set 6-4 by firing a winner down the line in just under an hour.
With the first set under her belt, Azarenka went on to take complete control of the second as she secured a triple break. The 20-year-old played near-perfect tennis, making only three unforced errors for the set. She pounced on Voegele’s simple mistakes, which started to escalate.
Despite hitting 11 more winners than her higher-ranked opponent, Voegele’s fighting spirit quickly disappeared as she lost her way throughout the set. Azarenka proved too strong for the hard-working Swiss and closed out the set in 30 minutes.
Azarenka will now meet Tathiana Garbin in the next round. The Italian beat Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-7(5) 6-2 6-0 on Thursday.
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