Venus Williams advances in Auckland WTA

Venus Williams rallied from a break down in the third set to beat Victoria Azarenka 6-3 6-1 6-3 at the ASB Classic on Tuesday in what she described as one of the toughest first-round matches of her career.

That was saying something as the 38-year-old Williams has spent more than two decades on the WTA Tour.

But it is rare that two former top-ranked players and grand slam winners meet in the first round of a relatively small tournament such as Auckland.

And the sixth-seeded Williams had to call on all of her experience to advance.

It was Williams's first goal of 2019 simply to reach to the second round.

She had come to Auckland sometimes in the past hoping to play as many matches as possible in the lead-up to the Australia Open but had been undone by challenging draws.

When she saw that she had drawn Azarenka this year, a former No. 1 on the comeback from injuries and personal issues, Williams felt that fate was against her.

"Honestly, my goal was to get past this first round because did you see who I had to play today?" Williams said.

"We need these matches going into the Australian Open and I actually had a very similar circumstance last year, played an amazing player and didn't really get any matches.

"So, I thought 'Oh no, not again.' I'm hoping that the next round, too, will be fruitful for me and I already got one of my goals for 2019 so more to come."

In other matches, defending champion and second-seeded Julia Goerges beat Khanna Larsson 6-0 6-4.

Third-seeded Su-Wei Hsieh beat Polona Hercog 6-2 6-3, fifth-seeded Barbora Strycova beat Taylor Townsend 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 and seventh-seeded Kirsten Flipkens beat Sachia Vickery 6-2 6-2.

Eighth-seeded Alison van Uytvanck retired with an injury at 3-4 in her first set against qualifier Bibiane Schoofs.