Kerber wins; Cibulkova, Azarenka lose in Brisbane
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Brisbane, Australia (SportsNetwork.com) - Third-seeded Angelique Kerber moved on, while fourth-seeded Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova and former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka dropped their season-opening matches at the $1 million Brisbane International tennis event.
The German left-hander Kerber handled France's Caroline Garcia 6-4, 6-3, while rising American Madison Keys vanquished the diminutive Slovakian Cibulkova 7-5, 6-2 and big-serving Czech Karolina Pliskova overcame the Belarusian two-time Australian Open champion Azarenka 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 on the hardcourts at Queensland Tennis Centre.
Serena Williams beat the 2009 titlist and 2008 runner-up Azarenka in last year's marquee Brisbane finale for her second straight title here. Williams is not defending her titles this year.
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In other matches involving Americans, Madison Brengle topped Ukrainian fellow qualifier Lesia Tsurenko 7-6 (8-6), 6-3; Croatian veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni whipped Christina McHale 6-3, 6-0; Russian qualifier Daria Gavrilova dropped Alison Riske 7-5, 6-3; and Russian lucky-loser Alla Kudryavtseva drilled Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 6-2.
Also on Day 2, Aussie qualifier Jarmila Gajdosova doused Chinese Zhang Shuai 6-4, 6-1 and Yaroslava Shvedova edged out former Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki of Germany 0-6, 7-5, 6-4.
On Tuesday, top-seeded Russian star Maria Sharapova will meet the Kazakhstani qualifier Shvedova in a second-round affair.
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Brisbane serves as a tune-up for the Aussie Open, which will begin January 19 in Melbourne.