Wimbledon 2019: Azarenka runs into third round with quick work over Tomljanovic

Victoria Azarenka showed her power and strength to move into round three of the Wimbledon Championships on Wednesday. A pace that was successfully set into place remained with the 29-year-old to easily take Ajla Tomljanovic out in straight sets 6-2, 6-0 on Court 12 at the All England Tennis Club.

The two met back in Madrid four years ago with the Belorussian easily winning it in straight sets. Her victory over Alize Cornet on Monday gave her hope to be focused to take on the Australian and continue on into the first week of action at the AEC.

The same went for Tomljanovic who defeated Daria Kasatkina in straight sets making for an even matchup with the 29-year-old. With her never seeing the third round, the 26-year-old would try to pressure Azarenka at any point to make that goal possible.

The Aussie made sure to hold serve in the opening game and when she had it locked, she went big and pulled off a successful break of Azarenka for the lead. The Belorussian regrouped with a break back followed by a hold in the fourth that recovered her to even things up.

A solid statement in the fifth nearly gave her a break to love but saw Tomljanovic fight back. When she went for the chance to force deuce, Azarenka put an end to it scoring her third straight win to lead the 26-year-old.

A fourth win in a row put the former world number one in a good position with the double break achieved in the seventh. With the set running one way for Azarenka, she opened the chance for victory with the ball in hand to serve out the first. Gaining three set points she let one go into the net and the second wide.

Three was a charm and a challenge as she looked for the ace but was challenged coming to the net where a lucky racket reaction gave her the win after 27 minutes. Azarenka had a terrific service game over 80 percent with just five winners against Tomljanovic but enough to be in a good place.

As the second set got underway, Azarenka found herself in cruise control taking the first pair of games swiftly. Tomljanovic woke up to a sizable hold and battled to avoid giving the Belorussian an early double break.

Despite coming back to force deuce, she blew two chances to end it on the AD point and fell deeper with a 0-3 situation against her. Azarenka continued her march keeping the serve in check for the 4-0 run that inched her closer to the match.

Tomljanovic desperately looked for a victory and with a push to deuce, the Australian slammed the door in her own face as two unforced errors into the net set up a match opportunity for Azarenka. Her textbook returns and reaction time was reward enough to serve for a spot in the third round a bagel for her opponent.

Errors got the score even before the Belorussian fired off a crosscourt winner. A long return from the Aussie gave her two match points where one got away from her but the second went into the net by the 26-year-old to end Azarenka’s day with a success that took just 62 minutes to complete.

The former world number one played like such maintaining a near 80 percent serve on the first and six of nine from the net. It helped her outscore Tomljanovic 58-32 to achieve such a comfortable win on court. The effort would increase as the former finalist would await Romanian’s Simona Halep or Mihaela Buzarnescu on Friday.