Azarenka eases to Australian Open round two

Two-time Australian Open winner, Belarus' world number 25 Victoria Azarenka kicked off her campaign in Melbourne with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Hungary's world number 98 Panna Udvardy in an hour and 5 minutes, BelTA has learned.

On 18 January, world number 2 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus will play world number 135 Storm Sanders of Australia. Belarus' world number 77 Aliaksandra Sasnovich lost to China's world number 111 Qinwen Zheng, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7 (5-10).

In the men's opener Belarus' world number 106 Egor Gerasimov lost to Poland's world number 10 Hubert Hurkacz, 2-6, 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-5), 3-6. On 18 January, Belarus' world number 48 Ilya Ivashka will face Spain's world number 88 Pablo Andujar.

The first tournament of the Grand Slam series will be over on 30 January.