World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka thrashed Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands in their first-round match in the Generali Ladies Linz tournament in Austria on Wednesday.
Rus, ranked 69 in the world, managed to take only two games from Azarenka as she was defeated 6-0, 6-2 .
The Belarusian will face Romania’s world No. 46 Simona Halep in the second round of the $220,000 tournament.
Elsewhere, fifth seed Julia Goerges defeated Romina Oprandi of Switzerland 6-3, 6-3 in the first match of round two.
The next opponent for the 23-year-old German will be either Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic or Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson.
