World number five Victoria Azarenka extended her winning streak to 16 matches with a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 victory over France's Alize Cornet to reach the third round of the Madrid Open on Monday. The Belarussian clinched her last two tournaments at Indian Wells and Miami and is the favourite to land her first title in Madrid in the absence of world number one Serena Williams due to flu.
Azarenka raced into a 4-1 first set lead against world number 48 Cornet and, despite a blip dropping serve for the only time in the match for 4-2, broke once more to seal the set 6-3.
The second set was even more straight forward for the two-time Grand Slam champion as two breaks of serve sealed victory in just under 90 minutes on court. Azarenka will face either 14th seed Ana Ivanovic or American qualifier Louisa Chirico in the third round.
Positive change
Defending champion Petra Kvitova remained on course for a quarterfinal showdown with Azarenka with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Russian Elena Vesnina. The two-time Wimbledon champion reached the semifinals in Stuttgart a fortnight ago and believes her positive start to the clay-court season is down to her new coach David Kotyza
"I have a new coach. That's always great to have someone who's helping you and finding a good way of your game and plan," said Kvitova. "I feel okay. Importantly is that my body feels okay. I hope that this will kind of continue."
Kvitova faces Australian Daria Gavrilova in round three after she ousted 12th seed Elina Svitolina 6-2, 7-6 (7/4).
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