Victoria Azarenka beats Sara Errani in WTA Championships opener

Belarusian tennis player Victoria Azarenka beat Italian Sara Errani 7-6 (4), 6-2 in the opening match of the WTA Championships in Istanbul.

The World No.2 looked down in the first set as she fell 2-5 behind but Errani failed to serve it out three times before Azarenka fought back to force the tie-break Tuesday, reports Xinhua.

Errani hurt her right calf in the third game of the second set and took a medical time-out. She returned to break Azarenka's serve to level at 2-2 but did not win another game. Azarenka broke the Italian twice more to close out the match 6-2.

The last time Azarenka met the 26-year-old Errani was in Amelia Island (US) in 2008 when the Belarusian won 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.