Victoria Azarenka of Belarus held on to move into second of the WTA Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart Wednesday. The former number one Azarenka defeated Vera Zvonareva of Russia 7-5, 6-4. World No. 1 Naomi Osaka will have a chance for revenge on Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei this week when the two meet here. Hsieh came from behind to beat China's Wang Qiang in three sets 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to set up a second round clash with Osaka, whom she beat in Miami last month. Osaka beat Hsieh on the way to her Australian Open triumph in January, but the experienced Taiwanese caused an upset in March when she inflicted an early exit on the Japanese star at the Miami Open. The two players are now set to lock horns again, with their second round clash scheduled for Thursday. Angelique Kerber will face compatriot Andrea Petkovic in the second round, after Petkovic beat Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo in straight sets Tuesday. World No. 5 Kerber was granted a bye to the second round after Simona Halep withdrew from the tournament with an injury, and will now face her friend and compatriot in an all-German duel Thursday. "I will send Angie a SMS or two this evening," said Petkovic after beating Tormo 6-3, 6-4. "Usually, the loser has to buy the other one dinner," she added. In the other ties Belgium's Greet Minnens sprung a surprise when she beat Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova, ranked 159 places above her, to set up a second round meeting with world number three Petra Kvitova. Laura Siegemund became the third German to reach the second round when she beat Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko, while Anna-Lena Friedsam went down fighting in two sets against Dutch sixth seed Kiki Bertens. Earlier in the day, Elise Mertens of Belgium was knocked out by Russia's Darya Kasatkina, and Anastasika Sevastova overcame fellow Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in a rollercoaster battle over three sets. — Agencies
