Azarenka dusts off Mladenovic in straight sets at Rogers Cup

Victoria Azrenka in competition at the Rogers Cup Montreal Day Two

Victoria Azarenka had a huge victory to start her run at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. The 29-year-old mother had everything going right against Kristina Mladenovic who had everything going wrong in her game that resulted in a 6-0, 6-1 score on Centre Court at IGA Stadium. The French star had 10 double faults with six of them coming in the opening set which ultimately spelled her demise.

Their second meeting came three years after a match at Wimbledon where the Belorussian handed the Frenchwoman a straight sets loss. Things were different since then with their skills tested against one another on the hard courts. Azarenka had a decent showing at San Jose last week winning two matches before going out with an injury in the quarterfinals.

It left a question on whether she would be able to play north of the border. Mladenovic wasn’t so lucky in her run out at the Silicon Valley Classic losing in the first round to Timea Babos. With that standing as her one and only hard court match so far, the 25-year-old had to show her readiness to compete.

Azarenka showed her strength in the opening game holding easily against Mladenovic. She got comfortable earning the break before consolidating a second straight serve that gave the Belorussian a 3-0 hold. The French star almost had a serve to love on Azarenka in the fourth but failed to defend her gap which disappeared handing a deuce chance in play.

The 29-year-old turned it around completely to win a double break coasting along in the set. She briskly made work of the fifth scoring big points with her big crosscourt accuracies that had her a game down from a bagel. Mladenovic was well under pressure as she continued with the double faults recording her fifth in the set.

Despite that causing her flat moments from the forehand, Mladenovic's backhand helped her force deuce with Azarenka winning in on a third set point attempt ending things in 25 minutes. She served 53 percent landing six of nine on the first serve and six of eight from the second indicating her powerful stance against Mladenovic who had only one point from her second serve on nine chances.

With no choice but to settle in, the French star tried to get her game going but had on control. Azarenka won her seventh straight and won the eighth after Mladenovic committed two more double faults. It was still all in the hands of the 29-year-old who capped her ninth game win on service. Just when it looked as if Mladenovic found a way to end her woes, Azarenka rallied back to force deuce. She had troubles of putting too much back on the ball leading to the French star to gaining the AD point before scoring a cross-court winner away from the Belorussian avoiding a tenth consecutive loss.

Though a double bagel was out of the question for Azarenka her grip of the second set remained firm winning the fifth. She earned another break from Mladenovic who was out of it facing her fate with the Belorussian serving for the match. She saw a final battle from Mladenovic who forced deuce on Azarenka's match point. She didn’t get further ground gained as the former world number one ended her night on court in 55 minutes. Azarenka finished the night with 75 percent of points won from the first serve and a second serve not far behind. She'll hope that all the good qualities she brought together could come in her second round match against Johanna Konta.