Victoria Azarenka vs Stephens at Melbourne Park

Yesterday, Victoria Azarenka took Sloane Stephens on there at Melbourne Park after a gap of two years.

When the encounter had taken place between the two last time around, the Belarusian was in the top bracket of the world rankings. This time around, she was without any seed.

But, still, the result happened to be the same. It was again an easy straight set win for Azarenka with which she cruised to round no. 2.

Despite her being lower in the rankings than her American opponent, Azarenka was always the favourite, but, one would not have anticipated the win coming this easy for her.

Stephens, who also has not had such a great time on the tour in the recent months, was expected to push Azarenka a little bit, but, it wasn’t to be.

There was just no steel shown by Stephens. She had taken everybody aback by beating compatriot Serena Williams at this very venue in 2013, but, she was miles away from the kind of form she was in that day.

It was the consistency factor that let Stephens down. She hit some good shots, but, in between those shots, there were some blunders made as well and that hurt her.

Stephens can become a real quality player if she works a little bit on her consistency. With the amount of power she has, she can test any opponent out on any kind of surface. Probably with experience, she is going to learn, but, she would be disappointed with this score line against Azarenka.

Azarenka was obviously relieved to get off to a good start in the tournament. In the post match interview, she said, “I was hoping for a start like this. So, I am glad. It’s the positive mindset that worked for me today I reckon.”