Victoria Azarenka wins Miami Open

Victoria Azarenka joined some esteemed company as she powered to a third Miami Open title thanks to a 6-3 6-2 victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Azarenka is enjoying a wonderful run of form, including beating Serena Williams to win in Indian Wells last month, and only Steffi Graf, Serena and Venus Williams have three or more titles in Miami.

The Belarusian - who did not drop a set all tournament - did not have it all her own way in an error-strewn first set in which there was just one hold from either player in the sweltering Miami sun.

But Kuznetsova, who knocked defending champion Serena Williams out en route to the final, had no answer to her dominant opponent in the second, as Azarenka racked up a 12th consecutive win.

Azarenka subsequently re-enters the top five for the first time since May 2014 and she was unplayable in the early stages as her punishing groundstrokes and baseline dominance opened up a 3-0 lead - a particularly wonderful backhand pass helping her to a second break in game three.

However, the Belarusian struggled on her own serve and a pair of double faults put Kuznetsova on the board.

Kuznetsova again failed to hold, but an excellent forehand winner brought up another break point and Azarenka went long to continue her frustrations on serve.

The breaking trend continued, but a delicious Azarenka drop shot brought up set point on Kuznetsova's serve that was duly dispatched.

After seven straight breaks, the trend was finally bucked at the start of the third and the score was on serve at 2-1.

It was Azarenka who was in the groove, though, and she earned three break points in game four and a clinical smash saw her move ahead.

Azarenka, whose only defeat in 2016 came in the Australian Open quarter-finals, saved break point with a huge ace in game seven and a wonderful backhand that hit the line in Kuznetsova's next service game wrapped up the win.