Victoria Azarenka displayed the kind of form that could lead her to a hat-trick of Australian Open titles later this month by brushing aside German fourth seed Angelique Kerber 6-3 6-1 in the Brisbane International final, yesterday.
The former world number one has been plagued by injury over the last two years but the world number 22 showed little sign of rust on her way to a second Brisbane crown.
The Belarusian dropped only 17 games over five matches during the tournament and claimed her first title since the Cincinnati Masters in August 2013.
The 26-year-old, who won her maiden Brisbane International title in 2009, took control of the match against world number 10 Kerber after an early trade of breaks in the first set and then peppered the court with her powerful groundstrokes.
Kerber, the highest seed left after the withdrawals of Maria Sharapova, Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza, had three break points in the opening game of the second set but once Azarenka fended them off, she did not look back.
Azarenka won back-to-back Australian Open titles from 2012 and has reached the US Open final twice, losing both to world number one Serena Williams.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer will face Milos Raonic in a rematch of last year’s Brisbane decider after dominating Dominic Thiem 6-1, 6-4 in his semi-final yesterday.
Federer prevailed in an hour on Pat Rafter Arena to set up a crack at his 89th ATP World Tour title against Raonic, who beat Bernard Tomic in straight sets.
Hopman Cup
• Nick Kyrgios continued his impressive run of form ahead of this month’s Australian Open by powering the host nation to the mixed-team Hopman Cup title against Ukraine, in Perth.
Kyrgios and Daria Gavrilova, playing for Australia Green, both won their singles matches in straight sets against Alexandr Dolgopolov and Elina Svitolina respectively.
Auckland Classic
• Sloane Stephens ground down unseeded German Julia Goerges 7-5 6-2 to win the Auckland Classic yesterday.
Although she overpowered Goerges in a dominant second set, Stephens was made to work hard for the title, needing to first wrap up her rain-interrupted semi-final with Caroline Wozniacki 6-2 7-6 earlier in the day.
Qatar Open
• Novak Djokovic moved ahead for the first time in his long-running rivalry with Rafael Nadal when the world number one thrashed the Spaniard to win the Qatar Open in Doha yesterday.
Djokovic, appearing in his 16th consecutive final, won 6-1 6-2 in little more than an hour and now has 24 career wins over Nadal, compared to 23 for the former world number one.