Belarusian Azarenka, the beaten finalist at Flushing Meadows last year, took control after breaking Hantuchova with a superb backhand to go 5-2 up in the first set.
Hantuchova, ranked 48th in the world, made a determined start to the second set though, holding her serve and then going 2-0 up, breaking thanks to well-placed volley.
console.log("BODY2. CatId is:"+catID);if(catID==120){console.log("BODY. YES for anyclip script");document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none";var script = document.createElement('script'); script.src = 'https://player.anyclip.com/anyclip-widget/lre-widget/prod/v1/src/lre.js'; script.setAttribute('pubname','jpostcom'); script.setAttribute('widgetname','0011r00001lcD1i_12258'); document.getElementsByClassName('divAnyClip')[0].appendChild(script);}else if(catID!=69 && catID!=2){console.log("BODY. YES for vidazoo script");document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none"; var script = document.createElement('script'); script.src = 'https://static.vidazoo.com/basev/vwpt.js'; script.setAttribute('data-widget-id','60fd6becf6393400049e6535'); document.getElementsByClassName('divVidazoo')[0].appendChild(script); }But Azarenka hit back immediately with a break and that clearly rattled her Slovak opponent, who proceeded to make a series of unforced errors.