French Open 2012 Scores: Early Struggles Are a Bad Sign for Victoria Azarenka

If Victoria Azarenka wants to win her second Grand Slam title in 2012 at the French Open, she'll need to play better than she did in her first-round match against Alberta Brianti.

It's only going to get more difficult from here.

Azarenka responded after dropping an early set, winning the match 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-2. But she was hardly crisp throughout and trailed the second set 4-0 before kicking things into high gear.

In all, she committed 60 unforced errors. In a word, she was lucky to survive this match.

Early this year, Azarenka looked unstoppable. She won four early tournaments, including the Australian Open, knocking off Maria Sharapova in two separate finals. At one point, she won 26 straight matches.

While she has cooled off a bit—since Indian Wells, her best results have been two losses in finals—she has still compiled what is easily the finest 2012 resume of any player in the world.

Despite all that, a poor showing at Roland Garros could cost her the World No. 1 ranking. If Sharapova wins the tournament and Azarenka fails to reach the final, or Sharapova reaches the final and Azarenka fails to reach the quarterfinals, the top ranking would switch hands.

And after Azarenka's play in the first round—paired with the fact that Sharapova enters the French Open having won two of her last three tournaments—each scenario is a distinct possibility.

It isn't all doom and gloom, of course—Azarenka showed impressive resolve and fight to battle back after dropping the first set and staring at a 4-0 deficit in the second. Winning 12 of the last 14 games is an impressive comeback, to say the least.

But for a player of her talent, it should never have become so dire. She can't afford to play with fire moving forward like she did in the first round. Whatever caused the poor play—a lack of focus, a poor adjustment to the clay at Roland Garros, perhaps simply nerves, a tactical miscalculation—she needs to address it in a hurry.

Or she'll be heading home in a hurry and possibly without the world's top ranking she so impressively earned for herself earlier this year.

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