Indian Wells, California: World number one Victoria Azarenka of Russia scraped past Mona Barthel of Germany 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (8/6) in the opening match of the Indian Wells Tournament played here. The match lasted for three hours.

The 22-year-old World Number one came very close a defeat when a stage she was trailing 4-1, but could survived the scare as Barthel could not cash on in the advantage.

Azarenka who is now on 18 matches winning streak admitted that she did not play well but the most important thing in spite that is she won.

Azarenka sealed the deal in the second match point of the tie breaker after being pushed to the egde.

The win would now see Azarenka play against her compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Meanwhile, Jelena Jankovic was stunned by lowly ranked Jamie Hampton in straight sets. Hampton ranked 99 won 6-4, 6-3.

Other results:

Second round (women’s):

Li Na bt Galina Voskoboeva 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Petra Kvitova bt Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-1, 6-3.
Vera Zvonareva bt Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan 6-3, 6-4,
Agnieszka Radwanska bt Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 6-4

First Round ( Men’s)

Tommy Haas bt Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 7-6 (11/9), 6-4
Marcos Baghdatis bt Jeremy Chardy of France 6-3, 6-4.
David Nalbandian bt Polito Starace of Italy 7-6 (7/4), 6-0
France's Michael Llodra bt Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7/3).

By Indian Sports News Network