Victoria Azarenka battles past Johanna Larsson

Defending champion Victoria Azarenka has booked her place in round two of the 2014 Australian Open.

The second seed, who is aiming to win the Melbourne Grand Slam for a third consecutive year, took 105 minutes to beat Sweden's Johanna Larsson 7-6 6-2.

Both women were broken three times in the opening set. Larsson twice failed to serve out, resulting in a tie-break, which Azarenka won 7-2.

Larsson failed to create a single break point in the second set, while Azarenka converted two of two.

Azarenka hit 27 winners and 31 unforced errors in the match. She doubled-faulted seven times and did not serve a single ace.

Next up for the Belarusian is a second-round clash with Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, who overcame Hsieh Su-wei 6-1 4-6 6-1.