Dimitrov, Azarenka Win Brisbane Openers

The 2016 tennis season is officially underway as a number of players head to tournaments to prepare for the year’s first Grand Slam, the Australian Open. The Brisbane International is always one that attracts a lot of top talent as is the case once again this year, and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and Belarusian Victoria Azarenka each won their respective first-round openers on Monday.

Dimitrov took on fifth-seed Gilles Simon of France and came out firing. He broke early for a 3-1 advantage, and never looked back in the first set, going on to serve out it 6-3. In the second, both players exchanged break points, forcing the frame into a tie-breaker.

Simon had multiple opportunities to take the second set in the breaker and fought off five match points, but at 10-10, the Frenchman made the costly mistake of double-faulting to give Dimitrov a sixth chance to close it out. And the Bulgarian did just that to wrap up the 6-3, 7-6(10) win and reach the Brisbane second-round.

He will take on the winner of Serb Viktor Troicki and American Steve Johnson in the next-round.

Korean teenager Hyeon Chung knocked off Australian Sam Groth 7-6(8), 6-4 to also advance on the men’s side. The Most Improved Player from 2015 will take on third-seeded Croat Marin Cilic next.

American Denis Kudla began his season with a victory, battling back from a set down to upend Aussie wildcard John-Patrick Smith 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 and book his spot in the second-round.

On the women’s side, Azarenka steamrolled Russian Elena Vesnini 6-2, 6-0 to kick off her season.

“I was happy to be on the court,” said Azarenka. “It’s been a while since I’ve been out there playing an actual match. It’s been a lot of practice, so I was just happy to go out there and play and be in front of the crowd and just compete. So I was happy to be able to do that and play well.”

The win sets up a power-house second-round matchup against top-seed Simona Halep, a rematch of last year’s U.S. Open quarterfinals.

“It will be very tough. I’m looking forward to starting this year. I’m excited,” said Halep. “I know that it’s not easy, because every time the first match of the year is difficult mentally as well as physically. It will be a nice match I think, but also very hard and a big challenge for me. I played against her in the U.S. Open, so I’m looking forward to playing against her and to see how well I can play in the first match of the year.”

Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic, the seventh seed, rolled to a 6-1, 6-2 win over Sara Errani, while fourth-seed Angelique Kerber came back from a set down to beat Camila Giorgi 5-7, 6-3, 6-0.

Kerber will take on American Madison Brengle next. Brengle outlasted Kateryna Bondarenko 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 on Monday.