Press releases

MINSK, 19 January (BelTA) – Belarus number one Victoria Azarenka, currently ranked 16^th in the WTA rankings, secured the double bagel against World No.43 Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium 6-0, 6-0 in just 49 minutes in the Australian Open 2016 first round on 19 January, BelTA informs.

The Belarusian will next face World No.54 Danka Kovinic of Montenegro. It will be their first on-court meeting. Victoria Azarenka is making her 11^th appearance at the Australian Open. The Belarusian won the title in Melbourne twice: in 2012 and 2013.

World No.105 Alexandra Sasnovich who was the first to start out of the three players representing Belarus in Melbourne will make her maiden appearance in the Australian Open second round against World No.5 Maria Sharapova of Russia.

World No.71 Olga Govortsova of Belarus lost to Germany’s Tatjana Maria (75) 4-6, 3-6 in the opener. The Belarusian will continue her performance in the doubles event. In the opener she and China’s Chia-Jung Chuang will take on 13-seeded Julia Goerges of Germany and Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic.

Australian Open 2016 had a fair share of upsets as Romanian Simona Halep (seeded No.2), American Venus Williams (8), Sloane Stephens (24), Dane Caroline Wozniacki (16), Italian Sara Errani (17), Germany's Andrea Petkovic (22), Australian Samantha Stosur (25), Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (26) and Slovak Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (27) crashed out in the first round. In the men’s singles Spaniard Rafael Nadal (5) was also among the first-round exits.

In the men’s doubles Max Mirnyi and his new partner Treat Huey of the Philippines will take on Alexander Bury of Belarus and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in the opener. Belarus’ Sergei Betov paired with Russia’s Teimuraz Gabashvili will start against the British-Swedish duo of Dominic Inglot and Robert Lindstedt.

The $32 million Australian Open 2016 will finish on 31 January.