Victoria Azarenka beats Navarro in straight sets at Porsche GP on indoor clay

Azarenka beats Navarro on clay in Porsche GP

STUTTGART, Germany — Fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka defeated Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1 6-4 Monday in the opening match of the Porsche Grand Prix, the first match to be played on indoor clay on the WTA tour.

The tournament used to be played in October on carpet but has now been moved to April, with the same surface that is used at next month’s French Open, only indoors.

Azarenka dominated with her powerful ground strokes, especially in the first set, and eased into the second round. There were no other matches scheduled Monday.

“I made some errors in the second set,” Azarenka said.

She is looking for her fourth title of the year. Azarenka, who is ranked No. 8 in the world, has won three of her last five tournaments — in Brisbane, Memphis and at the Miami Masters.

Azarenka’s victims include the two most recent top-ranked players, Serena Williams and Dinara Safina, who took over the top spot one week ago.

Six of the top 10 players are in the field, but Serena and Venus Williams opted to skip the tournament.