Azarenka cruises into Australian Open third round

Greg Garber joined ESPN in 1991 and provides reports for NFL Countdown and SportsCenter.

Victoria Azarenka (14), Belarus, def. Naomi Osaka, Japan, 6-1, 6-1.

Federer became the first man to win 300 Grand Slam singles matches when he beat Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the third round on Friday (Australia time). The top-seeded Djokovic was scheduled to play Andreas Seppi while six-time champion Williams took on Daria Kasatkina of Russian Federation.

Azarenka’s dropped just five games in her three matches to date.

But Kerber’s major pedigree pales in comparison to that of Azarenka as she has only twice made it to the last four in 32 previous attempts.

That’s because, although she was born in Osaka, her family moved to America when she was young and she now trains primarily in Florida – meaning that while she can understand a fair bit of Japanese, she’s not as confident in speaking it.

Azarenka had 24 winners to only four for Osaka, who was making her Grand Slam main draw debut.

The 18-year-old, half-Haitian and Japanese, creates storm in the tournament. So I was like really happy.

“It was something that I thought about and that I was glad that I had the opportunity to mention something”, Raonic said in a post-match press conference.

“Yeah, I’m pretty happy right now”, she said. “I know that if I play good, then maybe I can win”.

“I had a lot of changes and emotions from a year ago that I still didn’t know how to handle”.

“I think she has an interesting game. We’ll see. Hopefully I can be ready and be strong enough to take that one”.

Osaka’s outstanding run will end with Azarenka to continue her campaign as she heads toward a possible Australian Open final berth.

“If you think about it, it’s my 12th year being here in Australian Open”.

Spain’s Garbine Muguruza reacts during her third round match against Czech Republic’s Barbora Strycova at the Australian Open tennis tournament at Melbourne Park, Australia, January 23, 2016.

The qualifier was impressive and has shown she can compete with the big players on tour and having reached the second round at Hobart earlier this year, has received valuable experience as she begins her journey through professional tennis. She said Puig “was playing with wonderful intensity, I was really in trouble in that first set”.

“I played really well, especially in the beginning”, Azarenka said.

Strycova doesn’t seem concerned about her winless record against Azarenka. Whether or not Serena was in top form, another key question was which players could challenge her at the top: Simona Halep? “So I will go to that match with confidence”.

Every so often a new face comes along; one that is very different in so many ways, who can also play at the highest level in tennis, similar to a breath of fresh air in a windowless room.

“Victoria is very, very good”. I saw her hitting some balls yesterday, and she’s hitting the ball very well.