Azarenka to begin her campaign at Qatar Total Open

Top seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus plays her first match today at the Qatar Total Open at the Khalifa Tennis Complex. Azarenka, who is the defending champion, takes on Romina Oprandi of Switzerland in their second-round clash. On Tuesday, Oprandi beat Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 7-6, 7-5 in one hour and 47 minutes. 23-year-old Azarenka, who won the Australian Open last month, beat Samantha Stosur of Australia in the final last year. In another key match on Wednesday, seventh seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic plays Ekaterina Makarova of Russia. Ekaterina beat Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-1, 6-2 in 59 minutes. Eighth seed Stosur of Australia will also take to the court for the first time on Wednesday when she plays Monica Niculescu of Romania. On Tuesday, Niculescu thrashed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-4, 6-1. On Tuesday, 11th seed Nadia Petrova of Russia wasted little time in dispatching Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic to reach round two at the Khalifa Tennis Complex. Petrova, a two-time champion of the Qatar Open trophy, fired six aces to post a 6-2, 6-3 win in one hour and 17 minutes. In another match, 17th seed Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic eased past Eleni Danilidou of Greece. Safarova, 26, fired four aces as she won 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 24 minutes. It was Safaraova's third win over Danilidou in as many matches on the Tour. Also on Tuesday, Romania's Sorana Cirstea needed three sets to beat wild card entry Ons Jabeur of Tunisia. Cirstea won 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 in one hour and 17 minutes. Urszula Radwanska of Poland and Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei also moved into the second round. Radwanska beat Nadiya Kichenok of Ukraine while Su-Wei edged qualifier Tadeja Majeric of Slovakia.