MELBOURNE, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- It took defending champion Victoria Azarenka one hour and 46 minutes to beat Johanna Larsson of Sweden 7-6, 6-2 in the first round at the Australian Open here on Tuesday.
The second-seeded Belarussian trailed by 5-6 in the first set while the World No. 91 Swedish was going to serve to win the set. But Azarenka broke to force a tie-break and won it by 7-2.
Azarenka found her rhythm and broke in the third game of the second set to assume complete control.
Though began slowly, Azarenka now is on her way to become the first women since Martina Hingis of Switzerland to win three consecutive Australian Open titles.
The Belrussian beat Maria Sharapova in the final of 2012 to her career-first Grand Slam and successfully defended it by beating China's Li Na in last year's final.