Olympic Tennis - Victoria Azarenka vs. Irina-Camelia Begu (16:30 BST)

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by Crunch Sports Staff

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Victoria Azarenka (credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Top seed Victoria Azarenka takes on Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu this afternoon in the first round of the women's singles at the London 2012 Olympic Games (16:30 BST start).

Four years ago in Beijing, Azarenka's Olympic dreams were crushed by Venus Williams who dished out a straight sets drubbing in the third round. In 2012, however, it's a very different story, with Venus struggling to get through the early stages of tournaments and Azarenka contending for the big titles.

It's been a fabulous season so far for the young Belarussian. She won the Australian Open at the start of the year with a straight sets demolition of Maria Sharapova in the final, and remained unbeaten until the Sony Ericsson Open at the end of March.

Azarenka's early season aura has been broken since then, but she's still remained highly competitive in the big events, reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals before Serena Williams put paid to her chances of winning a second slam.

Azarenka and Serena could clash again in the last four here which would be a fascinating encounter with medals on the line.

The top seed should come through this first round match comfortably against 21-year-old Begu.

Prediction: Azarenka in two.

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