Azarenka extends winning streak

World number one Victoria Azarenka stretched her unbeaten run to 24 matches this year with another easy win in her first appearance at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami on Friday. Record at stake

World number one Victoria Azarenka stretched her unbeaten run to 24 matches this year with another easy win in her first appearance at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami on Friday.



Her latest victim was Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands, who fought hard but was no match for Azarenka as the Belarusian cruised to a 6-3 7-5 win.



Azarenka is off to the hottest start to a season since Martina Hingis won her first 37 matches in 1997. Her wins this year include the Australian Open and Indian Wells last week, but she realizes she now has a target on her back.

Victoria-Azarenka-of-Belarus-poses-for-photographers-with-the-winner-s-trophy-after-defeating-Maria-Sharapova-of-Russia-during-the-final-of-the-BNP-Paribas-Open-at-the-Indian-Wells-Tennis-Garden-in-Indian-Wells-California-AFP-Matthew-Stockman

“I felt that she had nothing to lose, so she went for her shots, she was really aggressive,” Azarenka told reporters.

Paes-Radek advance
Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek laboured their way to the pre-quarterfinals of the Miami Masters after downing Marcos Baghdatis and Sam Querrey.

The seventh seeded Indo-Czech pair overcame their opponents 6-2, 7-6 (3) in the opening. Paes and Stepanek will now fight it out with Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins for a place in the quarterfinals.