Victoria Azarenka displayed the kind of form that could lead her to a hat-trick of Australian Open titles later this month by winning the Brisbane International.
In Saturday’s final on the Gold Coast she brushed aside German fourth seed Angelique Kerber 6-3 6-1 to take the title.
This shows that she's coming into form at just the right time for the first Grand Slam of the year.
The former world number one has been plagued by injury over the last two seasons but the world number 22 showed little sign of rust on her way to a second Brisbane crown.
The Belarusian dropped only 17 games over five matches through the tournament and claimed her first title since the Cincinnati Masters in August 2013.
The 26-year-old, who won her maiden Brisbane title in 2009, took control of the match against world number ten Kerber after an early trade of breaks in the first set and then peppered the court with her powerful groundstrokes.
Kerber, the highest seed left after the withdrawals of Maria Sharapova, Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza, had three break points in the opening game of the second set but once Azarenka fended them off, she did not look back.
Azarenka won back-to-back Australian Open titles from 2012 and has reached the US Open final twice, losing both to world number one Serena Williams.
"I'm not sure I feel relief," Azarenka said afterwards. "I wanted to win the title, but I didn't feel, 'if this doesn't happen the world is going to end'.
"I just feel really excited and happy that I'm doing the right things. I'm excited to keep working hard.
"It just gives extra motivation to keep working hard and achieve better things."
