Azarenka beats Suarez at Cincinnati Masters

Cincinnati (US) Aug 14 (IANS) Victoria Azarenka of Belarus eliminated Spain s Carla Suarez to advance to the second round of the women s singles category at the Cincinnati Masters tennis tournament hoping to take the title again after five years.
Azarenka won 6-7 (5) 6-2 6-4 in a two-and-a-half hours long match and is set to play against sixth-seed Caroline Garcia of France in the second round reports EFE news agency.
Earlier Ukraine s Lesia Tsurenko beat Danielle Collins of the United States 6-9 6-2 to advance to the next round where she will be facing current champion of the tournament Garbine Muguruza.
Estonia s Anett Kontaveit crushed Czech Republic s Barbora Strycova 6-3 6-0 to compete in the next round with the winner of the match between Japan s Naomi Osaka and Greece s Maria Sakkari; meanwhile 13th seeded Madison Keys beat fellow American Bethanie Mattek Sands 3-6 7-6 (3) 6-4.
Serena Williams also debuted with a comfortable win against Australia s Daria Gavrilova 6-1 6-2 to compete against eighth-seed Czech Republic s Petra Kvitova in the next round.
The Cincinnati Masters awards $2.9 million in prize money according to the official website of the Women s Tennis Association.

--IANS ajb/sed