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Madrid - Top-ranked Victoria Azarenka beat Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in a tough first-round match on the new blue-clay court at the Madrid Open on Sunday.
The Australian Open champion and Kuznetsova traded breaks in the opening set. Just when it looked like the second set was going to end in another tie-breaker, Azarenka broke again to close out the match.
Azarenka, last year's runner-up, has won four titles this year.
Also, sixth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki served six aces in a 7-6 (9/7), 3-6, 6-4 win over Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan.
Results on Sunday from the Madrid Open at La Caja Magica (seedings in parentheses):
Men
First Round
Nicolay Davydenko, Russia, def. Ivo Karlovic, Croatia, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.
Women
First Round
Yanina Wickmayer, Belarussia, def. Jarmila Gajdosova, Australia, 6-2, 6-4.
Nadia Petrova, Russia, def. Vania King, United States, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Caroline Wozniacki (6), Denmark, def. Ksenia Pervak, Kazakhstan, 7-6 (9/7), 3-6, 6-4.
Agnieszka Radwanska (4), Poland, def. Lara Arruabarrena-Veci, Spain, 6-3, 6-1.
Shahar Peer, Israel, def. Polona Hercog, Slovenia, 6-3, 7-5.
Angelique Kerber (12), Germany, def. Johanna Larsson, Sweden, 6-1, 6-4.
Lourdes Dominguez Lino, Spain, def. Monica Niculescu, Romania, 6-0, 7-6 (8/6).
Ana Ivanovic (13), Serbia, def. Mathilde Johansson, France, 6-4, 6-1.
Anabel Medina Garrigues, Spain, def. Tsvetsana Pironkova, Bulgaria, 6-0, 6-2.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia, def. Jill Craybas, United States, 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-1.
Victoria Azarenka (1), Belarus, def. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.
Roberta Vinci, Italy, def. Dominika Cibulkova (14), Slovakia, 6-3, 6-2.
Varvara Lepchenko, United States, def. Francesca Schiavone (11), Italy, 6-4, 6-7 (8/10), 6-3.
Maria Kirilenko (16), Russia, def. Zheng Jie, China, 6-2, 7-5.
Maria Sharapova (2), Russia def. Irina-Camelia Begu, Romania 6-0, 6-3.
