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 The former world number one has been plagued by injuries in the last
two years which have sent her down to 22nd in the world rankings but
showed little signs of rust against qualifier Vesnina.
Playing for the first time since retiring from the WTA event in
Wuhan, China in September, Azarenka broke Vesnina six times to wrap
up victory.
She will have a much sterner test against former French Open
finalist Halep, who had a first-round bye.
Australian Sam Stosur had a much difficult match and narrowly
avoided disappointment on home turf by battling through a wrist
injury to claim an opening victory.
The former U.S. Open champion recovered from 0-3 down in the final
set to beat Slovakian qualifier Jana Cepelova 6-4 3-6 6-4 to start
her year.
The 31-year-old has frequently failed to hit the heights on home
turf having never won a tournament or progressed past the fourth
round at the Australian Open.
The world number 27 looked set for another disappointment before a
spirited effort saw off the world number 147 and set up a
second-round clash with Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro.
"I am really pleased to walk away with a win, especially being down
in that third set and then find that ability to come back and play
well and win it when you are down, to turn things around," Stosur
said.
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Italy's Roberto Vinci, who ended Serena Williams's bid for a
calendar grand slam in the U.S. Open semi-finals last year, beat
former world number one Jelena Jankovic 3-6 6-2 6-4.
Russian Maria Sharapova is the tournament draw card and she will
kick off her campaign on Tuesday against compatriot Ekaterina
Makarova. On the men's side, 17-times grand slam champion Roger
Federer will play Germany's Tobias Kamke.
Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who has slumped from eighth to 28th in
the rankings, started the year with a 6-3 7-6(10) win over fifth
seed Gilles Simon of France.
(Writing by Patrick Johnston and Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Ed
Osmond)
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