Melbourne, Jan 16 (IANS) Third-seed Belarusian Victoria Azarenka cruised through to the second round of the women’s singles event of Australian Open tennis here Monday defeating Britain’s Heather Watson 6-1, 6-0.

Azarenka won 12 straight games to finish off Watson in the opening match on the centre court. The 22-year-old took 67 minutes to complete the victory, showing the same form that helped her win the title in Sydney Friday.

“Well, the score is easy. To actually play the match, it is never easy, especially for me coming here only Saturday,” Azarenka said.

China’s Li Na, seeded fifth beat Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan in another first round match.

Local player Bernard Tomic came from behind to beat higher-ranked Fernando Verdasco of Spain 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 in a tight men’s singles opening round tie.

Following are the results so far of Day One at Australian Open:

Women’s singles 1st round:
5-Li Na, China, beat Ksenia Pervak, Kazakhstan, 6-3, 6-1
3-Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, bt Heather Watson, Britain, 6-1, 6-0
8-Aqnieszka Radwanska, Poland, bt Bethanie Mattek-Sands, United States, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2

Men’s singles 1st round:
7-Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic, bt Albert Ramos, Spain, 7-5, 4- 6, 6-2, 6-3
8-Mardy Fish, Unites States, bt Gilles Muller, Luxemberg, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2
10-Nicolas Almagro, Spain, bt Kukasz Kubot, Poland, 1-6, 7-5, 6- 3, 7-5
Bernard Tomic, Australia, bt Fernando Verdasco, Spain, 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, 7-5