Azarenka, who reached the last 16 in New York but lost her first-round match in Ostrava earlier this month, dropped only three first-serve points in the first set and broke in the seventh game.
Victoria Azarenka defeated Russian Elina Avanesyan 6-4 6-2 and former U.S. On Monday, Open champion Bianca Andreescu defeated Swiss Jil Teichmann 6-2 6-4 in the first round of the Guadalajara Open.
Six of the world’s top ten are expected to compete in the hard-court tournament, which is the season’s final WTA 1000-level event before the WTA Finals, with Polish world number one and U.S. Iga Swiatek, the winner of the Open on Sunday, was not present.
Azarenka, who reached the last 16 in New York but lost her first-round match in Ostrava earlier this month, dropped only three first-serve points in the first set and broke in the seventh game.
The Belarussian’s serve deteriorated in a choppy second set, but her 20-year-old opponent was unable to derail the experienced Azarenk, who advanced to the second round against Spanish top seed Paula Badosa in a rematch of last year’s Indian Wells final.
Andreescu, a Canadian, easily defeated Teichmann, winning the first three games of the set and cruising through the second as the Swiss served three double faults.
Andreescu’s victory sets up a first-ever meeting with Petra Kvitova, who defeated Bernarda Pera 6-3 7-5 with a serving masterclass and six aces.
Liudmila Samsonova of Russia, who won in Cleveland and Tokyo this year but lost in the first round in San Diego, defeated Estonian Kaia Kanepi 6-1 7-5, and China’s Zhu Lin defeated Frenchwoman Alize Cornet 3-6 6-3 6-4.
Camila Osorio, a 20-year-old Colombian, stunned 15th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova by breaking her nine times en route to a 6-4 7-6(8) victory.
Following straight set victories, American Sloane Stephens, Belgian Elise Mertens, Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, and Canadian Rebecca Marino all advanced to the second round.
